–Accountability watchdog decides not to rely ‘completely’ on JIT’s report
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday decided not to “completely” rely on the report of the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the fake bank accounts case.
NAB reportedly said that a reference against the accused will only be filed after obtaining complete evidence. However, a first report in this regard will be submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday, it added.
NAB has also decided to complete the investigation in two months.
On December 24, the JIT, formed on the apex court’s orders to probe into the alleged money-laundering case, presented its 128-page final report to the court which included recommendations for filing 16 NAB references.
The report had mentioned that 29 fake accounts were identified by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which had laundered Rs42 billion, however, the team further discovered 11,500 bank accounts of 924 account holders, 59 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and 24,500 Cash Transactions Reports (CTRs). All of these details were scrutinized, besides the loan profile of 924 individuals.
The report further stated that the fake accounts were opened through the Omni Group, however, the accounts had been engaged with direct transactions with the Zardari Group, Bahria Town, Sindh government departments and certain contractors while the ultimate beneficiary of money laundering was Zardari’s family.
On September 6, the SC had formed a JIT to probe into alleged mega money laundering of Rs42 billion channeled through fake bank accounts in three banks. Besides former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, several prominent individuals including former Summit Bank president Hussain Lawai and Omni Group president Anwar Majeed, have been accused in the case.
Property tycoon Malik Riaz, his son-in-law Zain, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have been also included in the inquiry.