KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Sindh chapter has short listed over 2,500 Pakistanis who have invested billions of rupees thorough illegal channels in the real state sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without declaring their assets with authorities in the country, Daily Times has learnt. The FIA Sindh had initiated three separate inquiries in 2015 and 2016 after receiving data from officials of the Federal Board of Revenue’s Intelligence Unit about 5,000 properties owned by Pakistanis valued at around Rs73 billion in UAE. FIA Sindh director Ameer Ahmed Sheikh has told Daily Times that they have short listed over 2500 people who have assets in UAE. Initially, the inquiry was headed by the Assistant Director, Khalid Jameel, the in charge of the Assets Branch in FIA Anti-Corruption and Crime Circle (ACC). Two side inquiries were also initiated separately in 2016 which included 100 big guns who transferred billions of rupees from Pakistan to UAE for investment, according to an FIA official. Over 1,500 out of the 2,500 persons are from Karachi, while the remaining belong to Lahore and Islamabad. The FIA team has started serving notices to these personnel. The FIA is investigating these property owners for violations of four laws of the country (income tax laws, foreign exchange regulatory act, money laundering act, and section 52 of the penal code). Published in Daily Times, February 13th 2018.