Fake accounts case: PPP leader Imtiaz Shaikh’s name removed from ECL

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party leader and provincial minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh’s name has been removed from the Exit Control List in an ongoing probe into the long-running money laundering and fake bank accounts case, Geo News reported.

Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh’s name was placed on the no-fly list in December last year, after he was named as one of the suspects in a report by a joint investigation team (JIT) probing the case. He was among the 172 people included on the ECL in connection to the money laundering scam.

However, following the recommendation of the JIT later, the provincial minister’s name was taken off the no-fly list.

The case

The Federal Investigation Agency 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 last year 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 2018.

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.