Illegal money transfer: New trial set to begin in Lahore
FIA yet to track any of the money allegedly transferred.
LAHORE:
Even as one trial in Karachi ended in their acquittal, the four directors of Khanani & Kalia International (KKI) and four bankers are being transferred to a prison in Lahore to face a separate trial regarding similar allegations of illegal international money transfers.
The company is accused of being involved in Rs103.8 billion in money transfers that violated a variety of laws meant to control the undocumented movement of capital across borders. All eight men were acquitted of similar charges at a banking court in Karachi on Friday.
More than two years after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) suspended KKI’s currency exchange licence, the agency has yet to be able to track any of the money that was illegally sent abroad and has not been able to begin any recovery process. The FIA team has been combing through KKI’s databases, focusing on over
1.4 million transactions that the company facilitated between February 2004 and December 2007.
During that time, the agency estimates that nearly Rs69 billion was transferred out of the country legally while Rs103.8 billion was transferred illegally.
KKI’s actions are alleged to have caused a major disruption in Pakistan’s currency operations and helped precipitate a sharp drop in the value of the rupee, which depreciated by 27 per cent during the year 2008.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2011.
Even as one trial in Karachi ended in their acquittal, the four directors of Khanani & Kalia International (KKI) and four bankers are being transferred to a prison in Lahore to face a separate trial regarding similar allegations of illegal international money transfers.
The company is accused of being involved in Rs103.8 billion in money transfers that violated a variety of laws meant to control the undocumented movement of capital across borders. All eight men were acquitted of similar charges at a banking court in Karachi on Friday.
More than two years after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) suspended KKI’s currency exchange licence, the agency has yet to be able to track any of the money that was illegally sent abroad and has not been able to begin any recovery process. The FIA team has been combing through KKI’s databases, focusing on over
1.4 million transactions that the company facilitated between February 2004 and December 2007.
During that time, the agency estimates that nearly Rs69 billion was transferred out of the country legally while Rs103.8 billion was transferred illegally.
KKI’s actions are alleged to have caused a major disruption in Pakistan’s currency operations and helped precipitate a sharp drop in the value of the rupee, which depreciated by 27 per cent during the year 2008.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2011.