Tag: money laundering

  • Shehbaz Sharif, son were focus of UK’s money-laundering investigation

    Shehbaz Sharif, son were focus of UK’s money-laundering investigation

    The United Kingdom’s (UK) anti-corruption force National Crime Agency (NCA) told the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on December 19, 2019, that it needed Assets Freezing Orders (AFO’s) to initiate a high-profile investigation into former Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Suleman Sharif to “prove or disprove” their alleged involvement in money-laundering, fraud, corrupt practices and misuse of public office for the purposes of money-laundering, reports Murtaza Ali Shah for The News.

    It was reported in November last year that the NCA has ended a major money-laundering investigation into Shehbaz Sharif and his son Suleman without any further action and unfreezing of the assets after finding no evidence of criminal conduct, money-laundering and abuse of public office. It was then claimed by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s adviser on accountability Shehzad Akbar that Shehbaz Sharif was not part of the investigation because his name was not part of the Order that set aside the AFO’s.

    The NCA told the court: “This application is in respect of funds held in the name of or associated to, Suleman Shahbaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif (officer note: frequently referred to as Shehbaz Sharif/Shahbaz Sharif).”

    The NCA said it suspected that the money that was transferred to Carter Ruck’s account was “in fact deemed to be associated to Suleman Sharif”. After the court granted AFO’s to NCA, further steps were taken to seek access to Shehbaz Sharif’s accounts at Barclays Bank and Habib Bank’s London branch as part of the “Frozen Funds” investigation.

    The NCA officer told the court it suspected that “the funds which are intended to be frozen are derived from this criminal conduct in Pakistan, namely accrued from the Sharif Group or by Shehbaz Sharif during his time as Chief Minister of Punjab. I suspect that this represents an active attempt by Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Sharif to launder the proceeds of their criminality into the UK”.

    In introducing to the court who Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Sharif were and why it intended to investigate them for the alleged criminal conduct of money-laundering, the NCA explained to the judge that Shehbaz Sharif is a “Politically Exposed Person (PEP) and has held a series of political appointments in Pakistan from the early 90s onwards, including president of the PML-N, Chief Minister of Punjab, and leader of the opposition provincial assembly of the Punjab”.

    It’s pertinent to mention that the NCA relied heavily on Daily Mail’s article by David Rose dated July 14, 2019, which he had published after visiting Pakistan for several days where he was given access to detainees who allegedly did money-laundering for the Sharifs.

    David Rose had claimed: “Britain’s National Crime Agency is working closely with Pakistani investigators and Home Secretary Sajid Javid is discussing the possible extradition of members of Shahbaz’s family who have taken refuge in London.”

    Shehzad Akbar had confirmed to David Rose in the same article: “We are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the Home Office. We are grateful for this assistance and we hope it will ensure that theft and money-laundering of this magnitude will never happen again.” The NCA told the court: “The Assets Recovery Unit  (ARU) was created by PM Imran Khan to assist in the recovery of criminal assets to the state of Pakistan. This letter has confirmed that Shehbaz Sharif is currently under investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s autonomous federal and anti-corruption agency, and was granted bail by the Accountability Court on February 14, 2019.”

    The NCA informing the court why it’s working with the ARU on these cases, said: “The ARU was created by PM Imran Khan under the leadership of his accountability advisor, a barrier and member of the Pakistan cabinet. The ARU was created to break down inter-agency barriers, combine in one pace the discrete powers of the federal agencies; and, prioritise asset recovery in the interests of the govt of Pakistan. The unit is formed of representatives from the NAB, FIA, FBR, and the State Bank of Pakistan.”

    The NCA investigation continued into Shehbaz Sharif for almost two years as the NCA went back nearly 15 years to investigate Shehbaz Sharif’s accounts and financial affairs and found no evidence of criminal conduct or fraud. The investigation was shut down in November 2021 after the NCA failed to establish that Shehbaz Sharif and his family were involved in any kind of wrongdoing, effectively giving Shehbaz Sharif a clean chit.

  • ‘Galti hogayi, jiska pasia tha wo’: Hareem Shah breaks silence on money laundering allegations

    ‘Galti hogayi, jiska pasia tha wo’: Hareem Shah breaks silence on money laundering allegations

    TikToker Hareem Shah has finally reacted to her latest controversy in an interview with a media portal. She clarified that the currency notes shown in the video are not hers and they belong to a friend of hers who works for a currency exchange firm in London.

    She also mentioned that, “I have come to London for work and I made the video without thinking that It could create a furor on social media.”

    She considers this a mistake and intends to learn from it.

    The TikToker landed in a legal mess after her latest snack video released on the platform in which she can be seen sitting down with two stacks of British pounds. Showing the money, the social media star said that this was the first time she had carried a “heavy amount” from Pakistan to London.

    According to the Federal Board of Revenue’s website, a passenger can bring any amount of any foreign currency to Pakistan but “taking out foreign currencies is permitted up to only $10,000.

    Following the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) decision to launch a money-laundering probe against  Hareem Shah after she claimed to carry a hefty sum of money abroad, the TikToker has retracted the statement.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Hareem1641996774-0.jpg

    The FIA, on Wednesday, announced that it has decided to initiate an investigation after Shah claimed that she had “successfully carried a hefty amount of money in cash to the United Kingdom” as against the law.

    As reported by Geo News, the FIA has decided to write a letter to the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to take action against Shah. 

    An FIA spokesperson told Geo News that an investigation regarding Shah’s travel to the UK has already been initiated, while her travel and visa documents, a copy of which is available with Geo News, reveal that her real name is Fizza Hussain. 

    The agency said that Shah has herself confessed to laundering money to the UK, following which a probe was launched. 

  • PM Khan directs spokespersons to highlight Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering

    PM Khan directs spokespersons to highlight Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering

    

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan in a meeting with party spokespersons directed his criticism towards the Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif.
    

    During the meeting, Advisor to PM on Accountability and Interior Barrister Shahzad Akbar said that Shehbaz Sharif is directly involved in the money laundering case, all the evidence has come, now it is the job of the courts.
    

    PM Khan responded that Shehbaz Sharif has robbed money of the people and he has to give an account of every penny.
    

    The premier further said that both Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz distributed official positions by taking money. “If they had not done money laundering, the situation in the country would not have been like this.”
    

    PM Khan directed his spokespersons to highlight the issue of money laundering.
    

    Later, Shahzad Akbar during a press conference said, “Shehbaz Sharif is the ringleader of a money laundering gang. He and his son Hamza have been found involved in corruption and money laundering worth Rs16 billion in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.”
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    ‘FIA was told to file FIRs against Jahangir Tareen, son on WhatsApp,’ senior journalist claims
    
			
    The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen and his son, Ali Tareen, for fraud and money laundering after it was told to do so by someone over WhatsApp, senior journalist and analyst Arif Hameed Bhatti has claimed.
    

    According to Bhatti, he possesses details of who sent the WhatsApp message, at what time and when did the other person respond to that message.
    

    “Even the language used in the draft is not that of the investigation officer,” he said, further saying that the case was registered back on March 22 but the news was leaked over a week later.
    

    Bhatti’s claims came after Tareens, who are rumoured to be at odds with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan over probe into their alleged involvement in the sugar crisis, were booked by the FIA.
    

    According to the FIRs dated March 22, two separate cases were registered under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating of public shareholders) and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), read with sections 3/4 of the Anti Money Laundering Act.
    

    Responding to the development, Tareen lashed out at the FIA and said the accusations against him and his family were “totally fabricated”.
    

    

    


    

    

    

    One of the complaints states that Tareen fraudulently misappropriated shareholder’s money after his company — JDW group — transferred Rs3.14 billion to an associated private company identified as Farooqi Pulp Private Limited (FPML). The FIR stated that the private company is owned by his sons and close relatives.
    

    “The transfers, especially after FY 2011-2012, were patently fraudulent investments which ultimately translated into personal gains for the family members of the JDW CEO,” the FIR said.
    

    According to Dawn, it said that during this period, Tareen, his son and other family members purchased cash (US$) from the open market in Lahore in a “structured manner”.
    

    “Subsequently, in 2016, Ali Khan Tareen remitted approximately US$7.4 Million to the United Kingdom for purchasing properties (to be investigated in detail during the course of investigation) which makes them liable for Anti-Money Laundering investigation,” it said.
    

    The FIA stated that Tareen, his son, son-in-law Waleed Akbar Faruki and Shahid Akbar Faruki beneficially controlled FPML and personally benefitted from this scheme.
    

    In the second FIR, the investigation agency said “voluminous withdrawals amounting to at least Rs2.2 billion were fraudulently and dishonestly made through a trusted cash rider.” It noted that Amir Waris, employed as a cashier at JDW’s Corporate Head Office, deposited large amounts into the personal and business accounts of Tareen and his family members.
    

    “This modus operandi of cash-based misappropriation and money laundering was employed to break the onwards money trail of deposits into personal and business accounts of the accused Tareen and family,” it said.
    

    It also stated that Rana Nasim Ahmed, JDW CEO, was also given large amounts from the company’s accounts to the tune of Rs600 million. “He claims these humungous amounts as salary, bonuses and ‘gentlemanly-agreed’ benefits.”
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    PML-N’s Hamza released after First Lady Bushra Bibi’s relatives became involved: sources
    
			
    PML-N’s Hamza released after First Lady Bushra Bibi’s relatives became involved: sources
    
			
    Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz Sharif was on Saturday released after spending 20 months in jail as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) probed money laundering accusations against him.
    

    But there is more to last weekend’s development as sources claim that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader’s release became possible when relatives of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s wife became involved.
    

    According to sources, First Lady Bushra Bibi’s cousin and nephew became two of the three guarantors in younger Shehbaz’s case.
    

    “The cousin is Masood Akhtar, and the nephew is Adeel Ali Khan,” they told The Current, adding that the third guarantor, namely Idrees Bhatti, is the son-in-law of Akhtar.
    

    Sources, however, could not comment over the state of ties the guarantors share with the first lady.
    

    Speaking to The Current, PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar neither confirmed nor denied that the three guarantors were related to Bushra Bibi.
    

    “Masood Akhtar Sahib is the father of a very hardworking MPA of ours. Aneeza Fatima has been working very hard for the party since before becoming a lawmaker,” he said.
    

    The PML-N leader went on to say that the guarantor was the father of a trusted lawmaker of the party, and they checked the characters of the people, “not their cousins”.
    

    HAMZA’S RELEASE:
    

    Hamza was released on Saturday after an accountability court issued the order and dispatched the same to Kot Lakhpat Jail.
    

    The Punjab lawmaker was welcomed by his cousin and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz outside the jail premises.
    

    The PML-N had prepared well in advance for the party leader’s release as 12 different camps had been set up across Lahore to welcome him.
    

    Arrangements were made to bring Hamza from Kot Lakhpat Jail to his residence in the form of a rally.
    

    PML-N workers showered rose petals and danced while celebrating for hours outside the jail in anticipation of Hamza’s release.
    

    Earlier, on Wednesday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had granted bail to Hamza in the money laundering case after a two-member bench of the court heard his bail plea.
    

    PM’s Focal Person on Digital Media Dr Arslan Khalid is yet to respond to The Current’s query. The story will be updated when we receive his comment.
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Six top Pakistani banks named in global money laundering leaks
    
			
    Six top Pakistani banks named in global money laundering leaks
    
			
    

    Six Pakistani banks have been named in an investigation on the role global banks play in money laundering by Buzzfeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), for 29 suspicious transactions close to $2.5 million.
    

    

    The banks named are Allied Bank, United Bank (UBL), Habib Metropolitan Bank, Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan, and Habib Bank (HBL). All the suspicious transactions took place in 2011 and 2012. 
    

    Buzzfeed News had shared with ICIJ more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports, or SARs, filed by global banks to the U.S. Treasury Department’s intelligence unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN. 
    

    According to the investigation, global banks moved more than $2 trillion between 1999 and 2017 in suspicious payments, and flagged bank clients in more than 170 countries who were identified as being involved in potentially illicit transactions. 
    

    Banks file SARs when they believe a client is using services for potential criminal activity, though the filing in itself does not require a bank to stop doing business with a client. 
    

    According to the data revealed by ICIJ, 29 such suspicious transactions to and from Pakistan were flagged. Of those, the ‘received’ transactions amounted to $1,942,560, while the ‘sent’ transaction was $452,000.
    

    Allied Bank had 12 suspicious transactions flagged, receiving $1,001170; UBL had eight transactions flagged, receiving $399,620; Habib Metro had two transactions flagged, receiving $74,980; Bank Alfalah had three transactions flagged, receiving $99,480 and sending $452,000; Standard Chartered had four transactions flagged, receiving $199,860; and HBL had one transaction flagged, receiving $167,450. 
    

    Out of the 29 transactions, Standard Chartered filed 28 SARs with FinCEN, while The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., filed one. All of these transactions took place between September and December 2012, except for one transaction that took place in November 2011.
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Ayyan Ali returns
    
			
    Ayyan Ali returns
    
			
    Pakistani supermodel and singer Ayyan Ali is in the spotlight again for returning to social media after a two-year break. 
    

    The 26-year old singer and model, in a lengthy message, informed her fans about her upcoming projects and thanked them for their support. 
    

    

    
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9JhnF0J6qk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    

    

    Ayyan has on various instances, shared with her fans, her journey back to health. 
    

    

    
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo_QNtqgXNm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    

    

    Ayyan Ali was arrested at Islamabad airport on March 14, 2015 for travelling with $500,000 and later, a currency smuggling case was filed against her for allegedly trying to smuggle money to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
    

    Ayyan spent four months in Adiala Jail and her name was also put on the Exit Control List (ECL). However, she was granted bail in July 2016. She flew to Dubai after the court ordered the removal of her name from ECL.
    

    Meanwhile, in November 2018, Ayyan had promised to return with a bang and had shared an update regarding her ongoing cases. 
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Shehbaz Sharif employed ‘money launderers’ in CM’s office: report
    
			
    Shehbaz Sharif employed ‘money launderers’ in CM’s office: report
    
			
    Two suspicious characters — Imtiaz Gill and Ali Ahmad — were employed by former Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif as his staff members but they, even during his tenure, were more known for their association with Suleman Shehbaz than anything else, The News has reported.
    

    The report quoted sources as confirming the PTI government’s allegations that Gill and Ahmad were given some titles — like directors of political affairs and strategy — but they were not part of the hardcore bureaucratic team of the CM Secretariat.
    

    These two people had no office in the CM Secretariat and they rarely even had any interaction with the Secretariat’s bureaucracy but were mostly seen in the private office of Suleman Shehbaz at 55-H Model Town. They were also found in the Model Town Office of the then Punjab CM.
    

    These two people were generally referred to as the class fellows and friends of Suleman Shahbaz. The sources said that they were appointed as directors on meager salaries like Rs30,000 a month each but were not doing any official work associated with the CM Secretariat.
    

    At that time the bureaucracy working in the CM Secretariat had no idea what Gill and Ahmad were actually doing. There was a general perception that the two might have been favoured by Suleman Shahbaz because of his past association with them.
    

    However, now the government revelation alleged that these two people were key characters involved in money laundering for Shehbaz Sharif family. Although mostly they are linked with Suleman, the fundamental question arises why Shehbaz Sharif offered them official position.
    

    For the same reason, Barrister Shahzad Akbar put some relevant questions to Shehbaz Sharif which include if Nisar Gill and Ali Ahmad were not appointed as director political affairs and director strategy respectively by Shehbaz Sharif in the CM Office.
    

    The government alleged that these two men were the front-men of Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Shehbaz for money laundering and corruption. They were alleged to be the owners of a company named Good Nature Trading, which was involved in money matter for Suleman Shehbaz.
    

    Nisar Gill is also alleged to have visited some foreign countries along with Suleman Shehbaz. The government alleged that the two had transferred huge amounts in the accounts of Shehbaz Sharif family.
    

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on Thursday in a press conference alleged that PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif was involved in corruption worth billions of rupees, claiming his assets had grown by 70 percent during the last 10 years.
    

    Shahzad Akbar pointed out that three employees of Shehbaz’s GMC Company, who were found involved in running a multi-billion rupee network, were working at the CM Secretariat on different posts and challenged him to respond to them.
    

    Shahzad Akbar also called on the NAB to probe the Good Nature Trading Company under which billions were laundered through the fake TTs. He explained that the GMC emerged when investigation was carried out against the assets of Sharif family. He said through over 200 TTs, billions were ‘transferred’.
    

    Independent sources also believe that the money laundering case against Shehbaz Sharif family appears to be the most serious among all cases presently being pursued by the NAB against the former Punjab chief minister and members of his family.
    

    In this particular case, the government has yet to find any evidence whether money involved in laundering has anything to do with kickbacks, commissions and corruption or is the consequence of a general practice of big businessmen of Pakistan who don’t show their full profits to avoid taxes and thus launder their untaxed income by using hundi and remittances modes.
    

    However, despite this “usual practice” of the big businessmen this case may really haunt the Sharif family because of the kind of evidence regarding alleged doubtful remittances received by different members of Shehbaz Sharif family and also because of the fact that two people used for the alleged money laundering were employed in the CM Office.