KARACHI: The joint investigation team (JIT), which is probing the mega money laundering case, on Friday directed the Sindh microfilming department head to provide the record of properties owned by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.
The JIT, in a letter, ordered the inspector general of the microfilming department at the Sindh Board of Revenue to submit the record of 75 properties owned by the former president and his sister, in the next hearing.
The aforementioned scanning record states that the properties, which are situated in Tando Allahyar, Badin, Hyderabad, Larkana, Benazirbad and South Karachi, are owned by Zardari and Talpur.
MONEY LAUNDERING CASE:
The case was initially registered in 2015 against former Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) chairman Hussain Lawai, who is widely believed to be close to former president Zardari.
Besides the ex-president and his sister, real estate tycoon Malik Riaz’s son-in-law Zain Malik and 14 other bankers and businessmen have been booked in the case pertaining to alleged laundering of Rs4.14 billion through 29 ‘fake’ bank accounts, while Hussain Lawai, Taha Raza, Anvar Majeed and Abdul Ghani Majeed have been detained for their alleged involvement in facilitating the transactions.
Investigations so far have revealed that several benami accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made.
The amount, according to the FIA, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.
