LONDON: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that Pakistan feels let down by Britain’s decision to drop the money-laundering case against MQM Founder Altaf Hussain and five others – involving cash seizure of over half a million pounds from Altaf Hussain’s properties and bank transactions involving millions of pounds.
After Geo News published a report quoting Scotland Yard that the money-laundering case was dropped after having examined all evidence and reaching the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Altaf Hussain, Chaudhry Nisar spoke to this correspondent to set Pakistan’s version straight. Scotland Yard had said that it had “credible evidence” that the MQM received funding from Indian government sources, and broke UK and Pakistan’s electoral laws.
Well-known for his robust, frank and honest views, Chaudhry Nisar stressed that Pakistan had gone out of its way to cooperate with Scotland Yard’s detectives who were investigating the money-laundering case and made many visits to Pakistan, seeking the country’s cooperation. Nisar said that Pakistan gave access to Scotland Yard for the evidence and individuals in the manner the UK investigators wanted and every effort was made to ensure that the UK gets what it wants from Pakistan.
He suggested that the notion that Pakistan failed to cooperate in any respect in this or any other cause of legal assistance is preposterous and offensive. The Interior Minister said that Pakistan’s help has been appreciated by the British authorities at several levels and repeatedly.
It’s pertinent to mention here that senior Scotland Yard officials praised Chaudhry Nisar on many occasions for helping the police investigation to the satisfaction of the investigators.
A top investigator had told this reporter that Pakistani authorities under the PPP government, when Rehman Malik was the Interior Minister, didn’t help the UK authorities either in the murder case of Dr Imran Farooq or the money-laundering investigation, but that changed when Chaudhry Nisar took reigns as the Interior Ministry.
Chaudhry Nisar agreed that the UK did not get the requisite help during the PPP government and as soon as the PML-N came into power in 2013, he personally ensured that every help is offered to the UK to ensure that justice is done, be it the case of Dr Imran Farooq, hate speech probe and money-laundering inquiry. “This kind - and level - of cooperation was never available to the UK prior to I assumed the Interior Ministry’s charge. It’s a matter of fact and it has been acknowledged independently.”
When asked if it was true that he had protested the police’s decision to close the money-laundering probe at the highest level with the UK authorities, Chaudhry Nisar said that it was his right to make his views known to the UK channels and correctly inform the UK as to what the government and public thinks of the UK’s decision to drop the money-laundering case.
“I have raised this concern in our meetings with our counterparts and this is not the end of the matter. We will continue to raise our concerns. We have questions to ask and there are unanswered questions. The fact that a high-profile money-laundering case involving cash of over £500,000 was dropped suddenly, without any further action raises lots of questions and doubts, and the official version stating that there was ‘insufficient evidence’ is perplexing. I understand that the Scotland Yard has around 16 terabytes of files on Altaf Hussain related money-laundering case. UK and Pakistan are allies and close friends. It’s time for the UK to reciprocate and hand over evidence, that the UK has on the MQM leader, to assist us in our probe into the same.”
Nisar said that Pakistan would like the UK to cooperate with its investigation into MQM’s money-laundering investigation and hand over the evidence that it has on the MQM leader and others. It’s understood that that the police here has documents of over 16 terabytes in relation to the probe that it conducted.
Chaudhry Nisar said that the end of investigation has raised legitimate questions about the British justice system because there are instances when suspects with just £5,000 cash were prosecuted on money-laundering suspicions. “To drop a case in which £500,000 was found in cash, besides other evidence, and then say there was insufficient evidence is strange”.