Ayyan’s case: Transparency International urges NAB to take notice of faulty challan

TI asks NAB chief to take up the case and probe allegations against politicians and businessmen involved

LAHORE:

Referring to a news report, Transparency International (TI) Pakistan has asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take notice of the faults deliberately left in the provisional challan developed after investigation with Ayyan Ali, the supermodel apprehended in a money laundering case.

The TI said the news report published on May 4 mentioned that a senior official of Directorate General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation has pointed out flaws in the provisional challan and has informed Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) chairman and members about it. The senior official alleges that the investigation officers of FBR’s Customs department deliberately left those flaws.

The senior official said Ayyan had claimed that she bought the file of a plot in a housing scheme in Rs5 million and later sold the file in Rs50 million, which were paid to her in the form of $0.5milllion, which she was carrying at the time of her arrest. However, the investigation team never investigated the key person in the housing society, Mumtaz Hussain. He also pointed out that the investigation team also did not investigate the person who had left Ayyan at the airport although his face is recognisable in the CCTV footage.

The TI, referring to the report, asked the NAB chairman to take up investigation of the case and also probe allegations against politicians, businessmen and customs officials’ involvement in the scam.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2015.