Court orders freezing of 20 accounts over money laundering, transfer of dollars

KARACHI: A customs court in Karachi on Wednesday ordered freezing 20 bank accounts over complaints of money laundering and transfer of dollars filed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The court was hearing three cases pertaining to money laundering, transfer of dollars out of country and fake bank accounts.

An FBR official informed the court that a case was registered against a Karachi family for transfer of over $400,000 to United States.

The accused include Pervez Ali, his daughters Sara and Anum Ali, and son Jibran, he said.

The investigating officer of the case said the accused got 11 bank accounts opened in 2016 for laundering money and so far they had transferred $494,500 to the US.

The second case pertained to a benami account in which more than Rs369 million were deposited between July 2015 to June 2018.

Informing the court about the third case, the investigating officer said it pertained to four traders evading tax worth more than Rs1.26 billion over a period of five years.

He said the accused, including trader Zor Talib Khan, got eight benami accounts opened from 2012 to 2017 and made transactions worth over Rs8 billion.

The FBR requested the court to order freezing of bank accounts pertaining to all the case, contending that it was feared that the amount deposited in them would be withdrawn.

The court while accepting the FBR's request ordered freezing of these accounts for 30 days.