NEW YORK, March 23: The Pakistani businessman arrested by the US authorities on Friday on charges of money laundering was released six hours after his arrest.

He said that “my hands are clean” and the authorities “have no case against me.”

Talking to Dawn, Khalid Shaheen Butt, denied money laundering charges, saying that “indeed I have done business of 33 million dollars over a period of last eight to ten years”, it was all documented and within law.

He said: “The money laundering charge is ludicrous.”

He said the law enforcement officials were only able to point out some minor discrepancies in the money remittances in which a clerk failed to take proper identifications from the persons sending money to Pakistan.

He said he was in touch with his lawyers and hoped to clear his name completely.

He suspected that some of his enemies within the community might have given false information to the authorities with an intent to harm him.

The complaint, filed by the US authorities in Manhattan federal court, said Butt’s Manhattan Foreign Exchange was one of the largest remitters of money to Pakistan in the New York area, and that some of the funds sent there were related to narcotics trafficking.

However, Butt denied knowledge of any narcotics money being laundered through his business.