Daily Times

KARACHI: Commercial Banking Circle (CBC) of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested two bankers for their involvement in mega corruption scandal of Rs 400 million in Abandoned Properties Organization (APO) on Friday and registered FIR in which total four top officials of several banks were nominated.

FIA officials have rounded Mohammad Khalid, ex treasury head of First woman Bank and Khusru Rashid, thearea manager of Habib Bank Ltd while raiding in the different areas in city.

Additional Director FIA CBC, Altaf Hussain told DailyTimes that FIR number 01/2018 has been registered in this regard in which four persons including Ex head of First Woman Bank and two arrested accused have been nominated while the one accused has been died.

“FIA team is working to arrest the third accused because he was the mastermind of this mega corruption case” he further said.

It is pertent to mention that Abandoned Properties Organization (APO) is an institution which is working under the federal cabinet and was came into being in 1975 to handle the abounded properties of those Bengalis who left Pakistan after the partition and went to Bangladesh.

Abandoned Properties Organization (APO) is responsible to invest the income of properties in beneficial projects to increase the assets further.

For that purpose around 390 millions were invested in dozens of properties through First Woman Bank which was embezzled by a racket of bankers.

An enquiry to find out the facts was initiated within the FIA CBC circle in 2016 on the directives of The Senate’s Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization.

Bothe arrested accused allegedly embezzled 390 million by premature encashment T-Bills and Bonds.

It may be mentioned that the amount was transacted from the APO account in National Bank of Pakistan to a fraudulent account in Habib Bank Limited (HBL) through many transactions, facilitated by officials of both the banks.

it has been revealed in investigation of FIA that around over 50 properties, where this amount was invested, had been confiscated by the agency, including 22 in Bharia Town, and others in Defence and other localities.

It is also much entrusted that the accused that had got possession of about Rs 280 million, had passed away, and the Agency had traced that the amount was initially transacted in his friend’s account and then transferred to his account.

The official admitted that the Agency did not trace out any trail of the accused. However, investigation against two officials of NBP and HBL, who were found directly involved, went on. Meanwhile Ms Sadaf Siddiqi, who was directly involved in the scam, was terminated, FIA officials added.

Published in Daily Times, December 6th 2017.