CJP asks NBP to file a case against Omni Group

Asks group to pay Rs5billion to bank if it wants to settle issue of theft of pledged sugar

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to file a case against the Omni Group Chairman Anvar Majid, one of the main accused in the multibillion rupees money laundering scam that also involves the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) top leadership.

As a three-judge SC bench on Wednesday resumed hearing of the case, the NBP counsel Naeem Bukhari told the court that the Omni Group had pledged over 250,000 bags of sugar with the bank but the bags were moved despite the fact that the factories were sealed in view of the case. This, he said, is a crime.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, who was heading the bench, told the bank to lodge a case against the group “if it (bank) is not ready to make a settlement with the group in question.”

Earlier, the Omni Group lawyer Shahid Hamid told the court that a settlement between banks and Omni Group would be made. However, Bukhari said theft of 2.5 million bags of sugar was a criminal act.

“If this is a fraud then you should immediately contact the civil and criminal forums. It seems like all the procedure for the bank guarantee was documented. All those involved in the case will have a case registered against them,” the CJP said.

He said an investigation would be conducted against those involved in the debt and guarantee. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will conduct the investigation on the court’s order, he added.

However, the group’s counsel said the Omni Group was not a defaulter. He said sugarcane farmers were in trouble as the sugar mills have closed down. “The court will take over the sugar mills and will not let anyone go into a loss,” the CJP replied.

The bench said the Omni Group was dishonest with the banks. “If the group wants to make a settlement it should pay the bank Rs5 billion it owes,” the top judge said.

The Omni Group lawyer sought time from the court to submit a reply as they have to seek instructions from their client, Abdul Ghani Majid, who is currently incarcerated in Adiala jail.



Granting permission to the lawyers of Abdul Ghani and another accused Hussain Lawai to meet their clients, the court said the lawyers should meet the accused and inform the court.

The group lawyer further petitioned the court to delay the hearing till Thursday (today). “We will sit till tonight not till tomorrow. If I told the court how much fee you have taken for the case people will be shocked,” Justice Nisar said.

He noted that mobile phones of the Omni Group chairman and his other family members currently in jail had been confiscated. “The Supreme Court has audio recordings [of these people] issuing threats [to people from inside the jail].”

Majid, a close aide of former president and the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, and his son Abdul Ghani were arrested on August 15 by the FIA in connection with the case.

The FIA is investigating 32 people for their alleged role in money laundering from fictitious accounts. These people include Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur. Zardari’s close aide and the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) former chairman Hussain Lawai was arrested in July in connection with the probe.

Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made. The amount, according to the FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.

The case was initially registered in 2015 against Lawai. Lawai and banker Taha Raza were later detained and booked for allegedly facilitating opening of 29 ‘fake’ accounts through which suspicious transactions were made to different companies, including M/s Zardari Group.