Court issues transit remand for Faryal Talpur

PPP leaders to be presented before accountability court on July 22

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday issued a transit remand for Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Faryal Talpur, who is in the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) custody in connection with its investigation into a mega money laundering case.

NAB prosecutor told Islamabad Accountability Court-I Judge Muhammad Bashir that the Sindh Assembly speaker has issued production order for the accused – a provincial assembly lawmaker.

“The production order is valid till July 20 and Faryal is supposed to be presented before the court on July 22,” he said.
The judge, however, asked NAB to inquire from Faryal, also the younger sister of the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, if she wanted to attend the session.

NAB later presented the accused in the court.

The accused informed the court that the Sindh Assembly has issued a production order for her and she wants to attend the assembly session. Later, the court granted the transit remand and directed NAB official to present the accused on next hearing.

In August last year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) named Zardari, Talpur, Omni Group chairman, his sons and over 10 others as suspects in an interim charge sheet filed in the banking court for alleged money laundering to the tune of over Rs4 billion through 29 fake bank accounts opened in three banks.

Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed was arrested along with son Abdul Ghani Majeed in August when they returned to the country on being summoned by the apex court. The then chief justice ordered the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) to quicken the pace of the investigation.

According to the report, the JIT identified 11,500 bank accounts and 924 accountholders at the start of their investigation. Its experts generated 59 suspected transaction reports and 24,500 cash transaction reports. That means the transactions were flagged as suspicious.

Due to the high quantum of transactions, the JIT decided on a threshold of Rs10 million “to track, follow and minutely investigate the flow of funds beyond the immediate counterparties and determine the source of funds and ultimate beneficiaries”.

It questioned 767 individuals, including Zardari and Talpur, while PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari submitted written responses. Last month, NAB arrested Zardari after the Islamabad High Court recalled the pre-arrest bail granted to him and his sister Faryal Talpur in the fake accounts case.

Later NAB declared Talpur’s F8 residence in Islamabad as a sub-jail and placed her under house arrest.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP