Rickshaw driver’s accounts used for Rs8.5b transactions in Karachi

Transactions amounting to Rs4.6 billion were carried out from one and Rs3.6 billion from another bank account.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI:
In one of the biggest benami (anonymous) transactions in the country’s history, bank accounts of a rickshaw driver in Karachi were used to carry out transactions amounting to a whopping Rs8.5 billion

According to sources at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), bank accounts of Zor Talab – a rickshaw driver from Buner – were used by Salar Enterprises and Salar Mining for transactions with at least five banks, Express News reported on Wednesday.

The FBR probe further revealed that a man identified as Ammar Khan used Zor Talab’s accounts for the mentioned companies. Rickshaw driver’s details were used to open accounts in various private banks of Karachi and Buner.

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Transactions amounting to Rs4.6 billion were carried out from one and Rs3.6 billion from another bank account.

The whole scam came to fore after the FBR sent a notice to Zor Talab, seeking reply regarding evading taxes and money-laundering charges. The rickshaw driver, who is currently visiting his native town in Buner, said he will contact the authorities after returning to Karachi.


A notice will also be sent to Ammar Khan soon, said the sources in FBR.

This is the latest in a string of fake accounts to have emerged in the recent past, as earlier this month four bank accounts carrying billions of rupees were unearthed in the name of a man who died four years ago in Karachi.

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Similarly, a labourer, who went to open a bank account, was shocked to found more than Rs70 million in a fake account in his name in Sialkot.

It all started when on September 29, a faluda seller in Karachi had been found to be sitting on Rs2.25 billion, transferred to his account from someone whose whereabouts have remained unknown.

Abdul Qadir, a resident of Orangi Town neighbourhood had discovered the huge sum to his name. The vendor expressed a complete lack of knowledge about the amount transferred and found out about the funds when he was summoned by the FIA.
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