Daily Times

KARACHI: A banking court in Karachi on Friday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for former President Asif Ali Zardari in an ongoing investigation into a multi-billion money laundering case.

Asif Ali Zardari was declared an absconder by a court on Wednesday. The banking court also issued warrants for Arif Khan, Naseer Abdullah Hussain, Adnan Javed, Aslam Masood, Namar Majeed, Mohammad Umair, Iqbal, Azam Wazir Khan, Zain Malik, and Mustafa Zulqarnain.

The court ordered that all the suspects be arrested and presented before the court by September 4.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been involved in investigating up-to 32 people for their involvement in money laundering that operated through fake bank accounts.

These 32 people include Hussain Lawai, and Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur. Zardari’s close aide, Anwar Majeed was also arrested on Thursday.

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.

During an earlier hearing, the DG FIA had informed the court that officials had found 15 more accounts of A-One International, from which Rs 6 billion had been transacted.

He said that an account was opened in the name of a person, who worked as a graphics designer with a private TV channel, and Rs 800 million were transacted from that account. Another fake account was opened in the name of a Lahore woman, from which Rs 1.5 billion were remitted.

READ MORE: Panama-style JIT likely in Zardari, Talpur money laundering case