Daily Times

The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) has summoned Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur to record their statements in the money laundering case on Saturday (today).

The FIA had previously declared former president Zardari, Talpur absconders in the case. The agency started an inquiry into the matter when the financial monitoring unit of the State Bank of Pakistan generated a ‘suspicious transaction report’ in January this year regarding ten bank accounts.

Meanwhile in Karachi, a banking court granted bail before arrest till August 16 to PPP’s Faryal Talpur in the money laundering case on Friday

The bail was granted after Talpur appeared before the banking court and submitted security bonds of Rs2 million.

On July 23, a circuit bench of the Sindh High Court had accepted Talpur’s six-day pre-arrest protective bail petition in the case.

Earlier, a two-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice on the FIA’s probe of the Rs35 billion money-laundering scam. In her petition, Talpur pleaded that FIA’s cases were politically motivated and the purpose of the arrest was to prevent her from contesting polls.

The FIA had declared the former president and his sister absconders in the money laundering case on July 21. At least 20 more people including Anwar Majeed and his son were also declared absconders in the case. Zardari’s close aide and former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai is also nominated in the case.

Earlier on July 12, the apex court ordered the agency not to summon PPP co-chairman and his sister in the probe involving fake bank accounts.

During the proceedings, CJP Saqib Nisar remarked that the defence counsels should have approached the court if they had reservations about the directives. The chief justice also dismissed as baseless reports that Zardari was summoned in person or that the brother-sister duo was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL). The two-member bench observed that since Zardari was just a suspect, he could not be placed on the ECL.

The hearing was adjourned until August 6.

Published in Daily Times, July 28^th 2018.