A model and her money: Tax officials interrogate Ayyan in jail

Customs to investigate Dubai-based businessman who allegedly paid Ayyan with the cash

RAWALPINDI: Income tax officials on Wednesday were at Adiala Jail to interrogate model Ayyan Ali about the money she was in arrested with on March 14.

Ayyan’s lawyer Khurram Latif Khosa provided the team with his client’s tax and property records, as well as details of her foreign trips.

Khosa told The Express Tribune that he had provided complete record of taxes paid on the money. The tax officials will now reportedly interrogate the businessman who paid Ayyan in cash to check if the money was clean.

Read: Supermodel Ayyan sent to Adiala jail for ‘smuggling’ $500,000 

“When Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was arrested in India for carrying cash beyond the legal limit, he was released after payment of taxes. He was not humiliated the way the government and media are doing to Ayyan,” he added.

Meanwhile, customs officials have also visited Bahria Town to verify the property details provided by Ayyan’s lawyer. “We are verifying the records. It may take some time,” said a senior Pakistan Customs official, who requested not to be named.

Read: Jail officials refuse to give Ayyan VIP facilities

Asked whether the money would be returned to Ayyan if she is cleared by the court, the official said that smuggling goods are confiscated in 99 per cent of cases.

He said that most of the media reports about the case were either incorrect or incomplete.

He said the customs department was clear about the case. “This is a smuggling case. We have to investigate how she acquired the money. She was smuggling it out of the country…we have her ticket and boarding pass,” he said.

Read: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan released by Indian authorities

Ayyan’s legal team has provided documentation to show she acquired the money by selling five plots in Bahria Town, Karachi to Najeeb Haroon, a Dubai-based businessman.

The plots were formerly owned by Ayyan’s brother. The sale details were on letterhead for First Choice, a British real estate agency where Haroon was a director for almost a decade.

The customs official said that a man named Mumtaz had facilitated the deal on behalf of Haroon.

Read: Ayyan records statement, says she was unaware of Customs rules and regulations