KKF money laundering case: FIA registers case against MQM founder

KARACHI: The State Bank circle of Federal Investigation Agency filed a case against founder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, over illegal transfer of money from the accounts of party’s charity wing Khidmat-e-Khalq.

According to sources, investigation has revealed that leaders of MQM would transfer money to Altaf from the accounts of party’s charity wing through Hundi.

Officials concerned told Geo News, money would also be transferred to Altaf through banks – money from three different banks of Pakistan would be sent to three branches of the same bank in London.

It was also stated that transfer of money was also done through the account of MQM’s Khawaja Rehan Mansoor.

The FIR states that the leaders involved in the crime include Khawaja Sohail, Babar Ghauri, Ahmed Ali and Karachi Deputy Mayor Arshad Vohra.

Clauses of the anti-terrorism act and sections on violation of banking laws were also included in the FIR.

The case against Altaf has been filed by a businessperson, Sarfaraz Merchant. 

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard confirmed that an ‘International Letter of Request’ has been sent by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to the Pakistani authorities, seeking help in its investigations in relation to at least two speeches made by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s founder.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that a letter under “Mutual Legal Assistance” has been sent to Pakistan’s “competent authorities” in relation to two speeches made by the MQM leader on March 11, 2015 and Aug 22, 2016.

The Scotland Yard confirmed that Pakistani authorities lodged a complaint with the Met Police in the form of a FIR “requesting that consideration be given to MQM founder being investigated because of comments he made during interview”.

The letter further says that on August 22, 2016, MQM founder addressed a crowd at the Karachi Press Club by telephone or similar means, following which there was violence. “Towards the end of the speech, he seemed to be encouraging the audience to go and attack local media stations, the Sindh Police and the Sindh government offices and Secretariat”. According to the CPS, the protesters attacked a local news channel and “as a result of the violence, one person was killed and several others were injured.”

The request letter requests Pakistan to hand over a large amount of evidence in various forms so that it could assess if this material could be used for prosecution and to bring charges against the London-based leader. This includes copies of investigation files on speeches; Sindh Police file; the Sindh Counter-terror police investigation file, the FIA file; the Sindh Rangers file; details of any suspects in relation to the incident on March 11, 2015, and August 22, 2016; witness statements; audio and visual messages and recordings; statements from any pathologists regarding to Waqas Shah’s death; and any other information that could be helpful.

The document goes on to explain to Pakistan that it needs all the evidence to ensure that proper investigation could be done in Britain but it warns that there should be no altering or tampering with any of the original documents and no new paper or evidence should be created and all the computers and equipment used originally for the recording of evidence should be preserved.