Court orders: Bail plea of two accused in hawala scam rejected

Saleem and Ali were caught with foreign, local currency.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court has denied bail to two men arrested for allegedly running an illegal money exchange business after local and foreign currency was recovered from their possession.

A team from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Muhammad Saleem, a resident of Lahore, and Amjid Ali, a resident of Sheikhupura, in a raid on their shop situated near Naz Cinema in the city on January 13.



The FIA officials seized Rs59.4 million and $19,000 from them. According to the FIR, Saleem and Ali were involved in the hawala business, also known as hundi. Their accomplices Naseer and Shahab are at large.

The two men were charged under sections of the Foreign Exchange Regulation (FER) Act 1947 and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.

While making the grounds for bail, counsel for the accused told the court on Monday that there were no eyewitnesses in the case. He said the authorities have nothing on the record which could support the state’s case against the accused.

The lawyer further said the case needed further enquiry to establish the alleged offenses. “Imprisonment under these sections is for two years and the accused have the right to get bail,” said the lawyer.



The court was told that under Section 23 of the FER Act, the federal government is required to issue a notification for the offences (the accused are charged of) to be cognizable, but the government is yet to do so.

However, the state’s counsel said there was enough evidence that could establish Ali and Saleem were involved in illegal money transfer.

“The FIA team recovered an amount of local and foreign currency from them that they were not permitted to possess because they do not have the relevant licences,” he said.

Upon hearing the arguments, Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Khel dismissed the bail applications.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2015.