Fake bank accounts: Sindh govt under fire in SC over non-cooperation

JIT head says it is still trying to reach end beneficiary

ISLAMABAD: A joint investigation team (JIT) formed to conduct a thorough investigation into ‘fake’ bank accounts case once again accused the Sindh government of ‘non-cooperation’.

Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and some of their business associates are being probed in the 2015 case regarding fake accounts and fictitious transactions conducted through 29 ‘benami’ accounts.

The transactions did not match the profiles of the account holders and they appeared to have acted as instruments for parking illegal money.

The JIT complained to the Supreme Court that the Sindh government was not cooperating with the team in getting access to the relevant record from various provincial departments.

“Unfortunately, the level of cooperation by the Sindh government is unsatisfactory, as they are providing information in a piecemeal manner,” Ahsaan Sadiq, head of the JIT, told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar.

The JIT head, while submitting the second progress report, told the bench that it was trying to reach to the ‘end beneficiary’.



On the other hand, Sindh Advocate General Salman Talibuddin rejected the claim made by the JIT head and termed his statement ‘unkind’.

Talibuddin said first, the JIT sought details of each contract the provincial government had signed since 2008, adding even the team asked for the detail of any contract made to whitewash an official room.

“In view of the JIT’s request, the Sindh government has sought time to share the record,” he adds.

The Sindh advocate general said later, the JIT had shared a list of 46 companies and individuals and asked for the details of any contract signed with those individuals.

“However, the provincial government has found only six companies, who had signed contracts with the Sindh government.”

The chief justice then decided to go to Karachi to take up the matter on October 26, making it clear that the JIT was working under the Supreme Court’s mandate.

The bench also directed all relevant secretaries of the provincial government, including the chief secretary and finance, energy and irrigation department secretaries to appear on October 26 along with the record required by the JIT.

The bench asked the provincial secretaries as to why cooperation was not being extended to the JIT in the matter.

Another member of bench Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the provincial government should provide the relevant record.

In September, the Supreme Court had warned Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah of stern action if he gave any concession to the accused involved in the Rs35 billion fake accounts scam.

Meanwhile, the bench did not entertain a plea to transfer Omni group CEO Anwar Majeed to a hospital. “I don’t trust any doctor from Sindh,” the top judge said; however, he offered that Majeed should be shifted to the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) to undergo a cardiac procedure.

Munir Bhatti, counsel for Anwar Majeed, while sharing medical history, said his client is 77 years old and had been facing severe heart problems, despite that he was not being allowed to undergo treatment.

Also, the bench issued a notice to Omni group over a plea by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to re-open their sugar mills.

Shahid Hammid, counsel for Omni group, stated that freezing of the bank accounts was affecting the bank’s business as well as the national economy.

The counsel said as the scope of the inquiry has become vast; therefore, the accounts of his clients should be de-freezed so that they could pay salaries to workers.

The bench decided to consider both the applications during the next hearing to be held at the Karachi registry.

Similarly, the bench also declined Majeed counsel’s request to share the JIT’s progress report with the client.

The chief justice said that the final report would be shared with the respondents to enable them to give a reply. Likewise, his plea to restraint the media from passing comments on the scam has also been declined by the court.

“I have already instructed the media to not pass comments on sub judice matters,” the chief justice remarked.



Earlier, the JIT head told the bench that the quantum of alleged illegal transfer/transaction has been increased from Rs35 billion as Rs47 billion, adding thousands of fake accounts have been identified through which the transactions were made.

“Likewise, Rs54 billion has been found in 36 benami companies.”

“Some 600 companies and individuals are associated with the scam. We are trying to reach the real beneficiary of these fake accounts,” the JIT head stated before the bench, pointing out 91 companies owned by the Omni group.

Sadiq added that the “matter is far more complex than fake accounts”.

The FIA had unearthed fake accounts in the name of unknown people like rickshaw drivers and ice cream vendors to launder billions of rupees.

Interestingly, one account was opened after two years of the death of an individual.

Justice Ahsan asked who deposited such huge amounts in those accounts and where the money went finally.