IHC seeks report in blocked accounts case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday sought a report from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after it emerged that a petition challenging the blocking of a citizen's bank accounts was linked to an alleged human smuggling inquiry rather than the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), whereas the court had previously summoned the NCCIA Director General (DG).

Justice Muhammad Azam Khan heard the petition filed by Muhammad Usman against the freezing of his bank accounts. Despite the court's directions, the NCCIA (DG) did not appear before the court. However, a government lawyer, FIA officials and other parties attended the hearing.

During the proceedings, the government counsel informed the court that the matter did not fall within the jurisdiction of the NCCIA but was related to human smuggling and was being investigated by the FIA.

The court inquired as to who had ordered the bank accounts to be blocked. The government lawyer replied that the accounts had been frozen on the recommendation of the FIA, adding that Rs6 million had been transferred into the petitioner's account in connection with a UK work visa arrangement, while an additional £2,000 had also allegedly been paid.

According to the FIA, an inquiry was initiated to investigate the transactions, following which the bank accounts were blocked.

Counsel for the petitioner argued that although the allegations being levelled against his client were factually correct, the FIA had wrongly treated the matter as a money laundering case and frozen the accounts on that basis.

Justice Azam Khan observed that the court would examine the matter after receiving the FIA's response and directed the agency to submit its report. The hearing was subsequently adjourned.