NAB chairman requests for transfer of money laundering case to Rawalpindi

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Monday filed a request for the transfer of the ongoing money laundering case to Rawalpindi.

NAB officials submitted documents signed by the chairman of the accountability watchdog in a banking court in Karachi seeking the transfer of the case to Rawalpindi. 

In the documents, Justice (r) Iqbal stated that the Supreme Court has directed the accountability bureau to probe the case thus it should be transferred to a NAB court in Rawalpindi.

Following the NAB chairman's request, the banking court in Karachi issued notices to former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other suspects in the case for February 20. 

The case

The FIA is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Zardari and Talpur. Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July in connection with the probe.

The former president’s other close aide and Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed a close aide and Omni Group chairman and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by FIA in August.

Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources.

The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.