Moonis says FIA wants to 'trap me' for political reasons

LONDON: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi has said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) wants to arrest and trap him in the name of so-called corruption cases.

Speaking to Geo News, Moonis said that the FIA has ulterior motives in sending call-up notices to him.

Yesterday, the FIA summoned Moonis, the son of PTI President Pervaiz Elahi, at the Temple Road office, in his personal capacity to answer questions about receiving substantial transfers amounting to millions of rupees from a total of eight accounts.

The ex-minister said that his total worth stands at around Rs2.5 billion and everything that he and his family own is declared, "white and clean".

“From the total declared assets of this amount, if the FIA is worried about only five crore rupees then it’s clear the FIA has no case and someone is trying to fix me for other reasons."

"The FIA is making allegations of corruption and money laundering for political reasons and everyone knows why. The FIA’s allegations are negated by the FIA’s investigation itself which shows that everything that is in my account is declared and clean."

Moonis said that the FIA wants to appear before the agency in person to answer questions about Rs50 million and some transactions in euros.

“Everything that’s in my account is declared in my tax returns and everything is clear and legitimate. The cash deposits are reflected in my account. There is no corruption.”

The FIA notice said that Moonis is needed in regard to an inquiry about Amir Sohail of Mandi Bahauddin on the allegations of hawala/hundi and money laundering.

The FIA notice to Moonis said: “As per the information/record available with this Agency, it has come to the fore that you are cognizant of the facts of the ongoing probe."

"During the probe, it further transpired that Mr. Amir Sohail [prime accused] deposited/credited cash amounts tuned to Rs. 52.5 Mn in your bank accounts maintained at different banks without any plausible reason/justification through 8 credit entries in 2021 & 2022."

"It is pertinent to mention here that the above said person also withdrew a huge amount of 80.9 Million RS via 15 cash withdrawals from your different bank accounts during a short span of time."

Moonis told Geo News that Amir Sohail “never sent me anything nor I sent anything to him”.

The PTI leader left Pakistan several months ago and has been living in London and Spain. He has denied all allegations.