The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested the owners of two foreign exchange companies on Tuesday for conducting illegal hawala and hundi transfers, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Officials in the FIA’s Punjab chapter confirmed the arrests of Mehboob Alam, owner of Lucky Cash and Prize Bonds Enterprises, and Abrar Ahmad, owner of Al Noor Traders. An FIA team raided both shops in the Japan Centre on Tuesday for conducting money transfers without a licence from the State Bank of Pakistan, they said. The raiding team also seized foreign currency worth around Rs4 million, two computers and documents from the offices.
The arrests are the latest in a special campaign against illegal money transfers from Pakistan ordered by the Interior Ministry. Cases were registered against the company owners at the FIA Police Station Corporate Crime Circle under Sections 4, 5, 8 and 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) 1947.
The FIA has also arrested Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited’s (SNGPL) Faisalabad Executive Engineer Shahid Shaukat for corruption and abuse of power. FIA officials said that Shaukat had received a bribe to allow a garments factory a commercial gas connection, even though the government has stopped issuing such connections.
The FIA officials said that they had visited the factory and examined the past record of the executive engineer so far in the course of investigations. A case has been registered at the FIA Police Station Anti Corruption Circle, Faisalabad, under Section 409 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Sections 5(2) and 47 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2012.
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