Money laundering case: Details from JIT report

ISLAMABAD: The joint investigation team (JIT) probing the mega money laundering and fake accounts case made startling revelations in its report submitted in the Supreme Court on Monday.

The JIT report which was submitted in the top court on December 19 was played on the projector today as a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo motu case at the apex court's Lahore registry.

During the hearing today, JIT head Ehsan Sadiq told the court, “Expenses of Bilawal Houses in Karachi and Lahore were paid through fake bank accounts. The land of Bilawal House, Lahore is in the name of Zardari group.”

The JIT report stated, “Former president Asif Ali Zardari’s personal expenses were paid through fake bank accounts. Expenses for dog food at Bilawal House and 27 sacrificial goats were also paid for through Omni Group accounts."

It further said, "These companies paid for Bilawal family's monthly expenditure of over Rs12 million. Even money for the construction of Bilawal Houses in Lahore and Karachi were paid through fake bank accounts.”

"Omni Group also kept making payments for dry cleaning of Zardari's clothes," the report stated.

“Rs1.2 billion were transferred to the account of Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur, which was used to purchase land for Bilawal House, Lahore and land in Tando Allahyar,” it added.

Further, the report said that on court orders, an estimate of the worth of Omni Group’s properties was carried out and “their value has now decreased.”

When asked by the chief justice whether bills for “passport fee, birthday and emergency lights were also paid by Omni Group”, the JIT head said, “They made payments each time after changing companies. First, there were 23 companies and between 2008-2018 the number of these companies rose to 83.”

The JIT head further said, "Investigation has been completed of 29 fake bank accounts and further fake bank accounts were discovered during the probe."