Billions in bank account shock Karachi’s street vendor

KARACHI: The Sindh Police and Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) have started an investigation after more than Rs2 billion were found deposited in a street vendor’s bank account.

Abdul Qadir, a resident of Orangi Town’s Sector 8L, said he had no knowledge of the account and the funds in it. A police contingent has been deployed at his residence after the said disclosure.

The vendor said that he came to know about the funds through a summons letter from the FIA, adding that he had opened a bank account a few years ago to buy a house in Karachi’s Sarjani Town.

When Qadir went to the FIA office, he was informed about the existence of Rs2.25 billion in bank account. “I run a small stall. How can I have that much money.  They have seen it themselves,” he said.

Qadir said that the account had English signature while he can hardly sign even in Urdu. “I am an illiterate person,” he said.

Police officials told media that the case appears to be similar to the ongoing money laundering case being heard by the Supreme Court of Pakistan involving Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

Previously, in a separate case, the FIA had found Rs 8 billion in the bank account of a man in Karachi.

Adnan Javed had expressed a lack of knowledge about the huge sum. He stated that he had deposited Rs5,000 to open three accounts under the title of a company, Lucky International, two years ago, but never checked his account balance.

MONEY LAUNDERING CASE:

The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious bank accounts. The inquiry started when the financial monitoring unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a ‘suspicious transaction report’ in January this year regarding ten bank accounts.

Reports said that over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at a private bank were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made. The amount, according to FIA officials, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.

But despite these huge transactions, the bank officials never reported them to the authorities concerned, including the FIA.