Financial fraud: FIA directed to probe money laundering charges

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions’ judge (ADSJ) on Wednesday directed the FIA to conduct an inquiry into a petition filed by the operational manager of a private bank, seeking cases against six suspects over money laundering. 

Petitioner Arif Zahid said Ali Abbas, Faisal Saleem, Shazia Saleem, Muhammad Saleem and Muhamad Yousaf had opened 15 accounts in the bank branch at Shah Alam Market. “Millions of rupees were sent to these accounts from foreign countries,” he said.  “One Shehzad Butt, withdraws the money from banks and sends them back through Hundi,” he said.

He said that a British bank had contacted them and revealed that an amount £560,000 had been fraudulently withdrawn from one of their accounts. “On July 9, 2014, the amount was transferred to Abbas’ account,” he said. “A Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) has been submitted to the State Bank about the accounts. It is also conducting an inquiry,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2015.