Fact-check: Online posts falsely claim Maulana Tariq Jamil’s bank accounts sealed
The FIA is neither probing the bank accounts of Tariq Jamil nor has it sealed three of his accounts in Pakistan
Updated Thursday Jan 19 2023
The Federal Investigation Agency has sealed the bank accounts of religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil after it found Rs49 billion stashed in them, claimed viral online posts.
The allegations are false.
Claim
As per a 13-minute clip uploaded on Facebook, on January 15, three bank accounts of the religious scholar have been frozen after the recovery of a whopping Rs49 billion.
“According to very reliable sources, Maulana Tariq Jamil’s son was a part of Farah Gogi gang,” the host of the video blog said, “He collected the money and deposited it in his father’s account.”
The host further added that Jamil had fled to Canada after the news surfaced.
The video has been viewed over 300,000 times, at the time of writing.
A similar claim was shared on Twitter by a verified account. “Maulana Tariq Jamil's three accounts were sealed. Where did the Rs49 billion come from?” the user asked.
Fact
The government-run Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is neither probing the bank details of Tariq Jamil nor has it sealed any of his accounts in Pakistan, confirmed two separate officials of the agency.
When contacted about the allegations, the public relations department of the FIA told Geo Fact Check that the agency’s cybercrime wing probes bank accounts.
“I have spoken to the cybercrime department, they are saying there is nothing as such,” the official said, over the phone, asking not to be named.
Geo Fact Check then contacted a senior FIA official based in Lahore, Punjab, who further confirmed that the news doing the rounds on social media was false, adding that there was no ongoing inquiry against Jamil either.
“It is a lie 100%,” he told Geo Fact Check, on the condition of anonymity, “We have not even touched his bank accounts.”
While Jamil’s eldest son, Yousaf Jamil, also told Geo Fact Check that the news was incorrect. He added that Jamil had returned to Pakistan and was no longer in Canada.
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