The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claims to have arrested the prime suspect in ‘fake accounts’ case, Aslam Masood. The alleged mastermind has been deported from Saudi Arabia and was taken into custody as soon as he landed in Pakistan.
Masood, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Omni Group, was earlier arrested by the Interpol when he was boarding a flight from London to Jeddah in October. The FIA team had wanted to go and arrest Masood from Saudi Arabia but they were not able to get visas for this purpose. An FIA team had wanted to go to Saudi Arabia and arrest Masood there, however, the team wasn’t issued visas.
The accused will be presented before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which is probing the fake bank accounts case.
Earlier in August, the Supreme Court (SC) had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Masood, declaring him an absconder.
PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, their close aide Anwar Majeed and others are facing a probe into the money laundering scam involving over Rs35 billion laundered through fake bank accounts.
It is believed that Masood looked after a company called Kam Crown and understood to be privy to important information regarding the ‘mega money-laundering’ case.
Masood is also accused of establishing his own company for the purpose of alleged money laundering.
Anwar Majeed is thought to be Masood’s employer at Kam Crown. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has also registered the arrest of Anwar Majeed’s son Abdul Ghani Majeed in a separate case.
NAB sources say the warrants for Majeed were issued on January 28 in an illegal land allotment case. They further said that Director-General of Sindh Building Control Authority (DG SBCA) Manzoor Qadir Kaka was yet at large in the same inquiry.
Published in Daily Times, February 9th 2019.
