Court reserves verdict on Lawai’s request for B-class facilities in jail

–Banking court judge asks why Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani were shifted to hospital without court’s permission

KARACHI: A banking court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on former Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) chairman Hussain Lawai’s request for B-class facilities in jail.

Lawai appeared before the banking court and requested for B-class facilities, to which the judge said, “Why does Lawai need B-class facilities when he is in the hospital and not jail?”

To this, Lawai’s counsel replied that his client is old and is suffering from a heart disease. Lawai, who has been arrested in connection to a money laundering case is currently under treatment at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) after suffering a heart attack in prison.

Following this, the lawyer further petitioned that accused Anwar Majeed and Abdul Ghani Majeed are also under treatment at the hospital.

“Who gave them [Anwar Majeed and Abdul Ghani] permission to be admitted to a hospital? We did not give them permission,” the judge said, adding that “no one can be shifted without informing the trial court”.

The judge lamented that the accused have been shifted by jail administration on their own.

Last week, a banking court had rejected bail pleas of Lawai and Taha Raza in a money laundering case and said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is carrying out an investigation into the case, thus “the bail pleas cannot be approved at this time”.

Earlier, in August, the banking court issued non-bailable warrants of arrest for Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and 15 others in the Rs 35 billion money laundering case.

It was also reported that warrants were issued for suspects absconding in the case, including Namar Majeed, Aslam Masood, Arif Khan, Naseer Abdullah Hussain, Adnan Javed, Mohammad Umair, Iqbal, Azam Wazir Khan, Zain Malik, and Mustafa Zulqarnain.

The FIA also requested the banking court for a 14-day remand of former president Asif Zardari’s close aide and Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son. The accused’s counsel, Farooq H Naek, opposed the appeal.

In the first week of July, Lawai — an eminent banker and former head of Summit Bank — was arrested by the FIA in connection with the alleged bank transaction worth billions of rupees.

The investigation agency is probing a potential laundering scandal of Rs35 billion implicating a top political leader along with his businessman and banker friends. The inquiry started after the Financial Monitoring Unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a Suspicious Transaction Report in January this year about 10 bank accounts.

The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources. The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.