SC asks banks to submits fake accounts records

Islamabad: The Supreme Court on Saturday asked the banks to submit their records in the fake accounts case.

The Supreme Court has ordered the monitoring of all transactions too. A restriction has been placed on the sale of property by the people mentioned in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report.

Earlier, Anwar Majeed, the head of the Omni Group who had been accused in a wide-reaching money-laundering and fake accounts case, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to have the JIT report implicating him in the case rejected. The petition, which has also been filed on behalf of his son Abdul Ghani Majeed, rejects the JIT report and its allegations.

 “The applicants are entirely innocent of each and every one of the (false) allegations made in the JIT report and its executive summary,” says the petition. There is no lawful basis for the JIT request that the allegations be referred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), it added.

On December 24, the JIT investigating the case presented a report to the Supreme Court saying that 32 fake accounts had been used by the Omni Group, Bahria Town and Zardari Group to funnel Rs42 billion. There were 19 contractors involved in this, said the report. It also said that Zardari, in his capacity as president of Pakistan, was involved in the misuse of authority and funds amounting to Rs1.5 billion.

The report named 172 people being investigated in the case. Among the politicians on the list include Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father former president Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari’s sister MNA Faryal Talpur, Sindh Excise Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, former Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, former Sindh home minister Sohail Anwar Siyal, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh and Ali Nawaz Mehar, a former minister of state for industries.

But the most interesting name on the list was that of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. Considering that Shab is the chief executive of a province, his inclusion on the list may hinder his ability to perform his duties.