Daily Times

KARACHI: Former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on Saturday did not appear before Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) in relation to Rs35 million money laundering case.

The FIA had summoned the duo today and both failed to appear.

Talpur’s advocate Muzamil Qureshi appeared before FIA on her behalf and sought for another date. Citing her reason for not coming today, Qureshi told the FIA that Talpur was busy in getting bail from banking court.

On the other hand, Talpur appeared before special Banking Court and sought for an extension in bail before arrest. She submitted 20 lac to seek an extension in her bail.

Previously, Faryal had sought a protective bail from Sindh High Court (SHC) which was to end today, whereas, today she got an extension till August 6.

Zardari and Talpur are declared absconders in the money laundering case, FIA reported.

In the case, 32 people are accused of money laundering from fictitious accounts and in relation to this, Zardari’s close aide and Pakistan Stock Exchange Chairman, Hussain Lawai was also arrested earlier this month.

The FIA investigation began when the financial monitoring unit of the State Bank of Pakistan issued a transaction report, regarding ten bank accounts, in January this year.

Sources claimed that at least 20 benami accounts at a private bank were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made.

According to the FIA sources, the amount is said to be black money which has been gathered via various kickbacks, commissions, and bribes.

Despite these huge transactions, bank authorities never reported them to the concerned authorities.