ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency is alleged to have made three low-ranking employees of a foreign exchange company scapegoat in a hawala (transfer of money through illegal channel) scam while letting influential beneficiaries go scot-free.

According to documents available with Dawn, the company — Malik Exchange (Pvt) Limited — is owned by Abdul Raziq, a federal minister in the PPP government.

In November last year, the three employees accused of illegally transferring billons of rupees had requested the then FIA director general to arrest the real beneficiaries, including the owner and directors of the company. In January this year, the DG FIA also ordered an inquiry, but even after almost a year the real beneficiaries are still untouched.

An FIR registered with the FIA’s economic crimes wing on May 5, 2009, alleged that Malik Exchange had made illegal transactions of Rs25.5 billion in seven months.

In late 2008, Khanani and Kalia International, a well-known foreign exchange company, was accused of illegally transferring $10 billion abroad. Its owners were acquitted by court in May 2011.

The people who are accused of making illegal transactions through Malik Exchange include Iqbal Z. Ahmed, who is already embroiled in the Rs22bn rental power projects scam; and Haris Afzal, an accused in the Rs8.404bn Haris Steel Mills loan scam.

Iqbal Ahmed allegedly sent Rs1.74bn out of the country to get foreign exchange for making his and other companies’ local payments.

But he denied any wrongdoing. In his statement recorded before the FIA, he said: “Malik Exchange was introduced to us by Haji Haroon of Karachi and the transactions we made were under the assumption that Malik Exchange was a legal exchange company.”

On Oct 10, 2009, the FIA had written a letter to the National Accountability Bureau, Punjab, alleging that Haris Afzal, a director of Haris Steel Mills, had transferred millions of rupees out of the country through fake accounts of Malik Exchange. “Since NAB is already investigating Sheikh Afzal, Haris Afzal, Hamish Khan, etc, the above mentioned information is being provided for further necessary action,” the letter said.

The Malik exchange scam came to light in May 2009 when an additional manager of Standard Chartered Bank lodged a complaint with the FIA against some illegal and unauthorised transfers of money.

During investigation the FIA found that three employees of Malik Exchange -- Iqbal Afridi, Imtiaz Afridi and Mian Waris Gul -- were involved in the transfer of money through illegal channels. They admitted to have opened 21 fictitious/benami accounts across the country and illegally sent abroad Rs25.5bn in seven months.

Further investigation revealed that Abdul Raziq, six directors and a chief executive officer were allegedly involved in illegal transfer of the money.

Responding to FIA’s questions, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Dec 24, 2009: “It appears that various individuals operating benami accounts as mentioned in your letters were reportedly involved in illegal foreign exchange business under the auspices of Malik Exchange (Pvt) Ltd. Further investigations would facilitate in identifying the … trail of funds… [that] ended up in the bank accounts of sponsors/directors of Malik Exchange.”

But the FIA implicated only Iqbal, Imtiaz and Waris and submitted a challan in a trial court in Lahore. In November last year, the three accused submitted an application to the FIA director general, alleging that the investigation officer of the case had exonerated the real beneficiaries and made them scapegoat. Subsequently, the DG FIA sought a report.

In his Jan 1 letter, the director of FIA’s economic crimes wing said that despite “strong evidence against them (Raziq and others) they have been let go scot-free and the three employees of the company (with a monthly salary of Rs10,000 each)” had been implicated.

Dawn has learnt that no fresh report has been prepared so far.

Waim Siyal, an official of the FIA, did not respond to Dawn queries despite having promised to do that.

When contacted, Abdul Raziq denied his involvement in the illegal transfer of money. “The FIA conducted a number of inquiries into the matter but did not find any evidence against me,” he said.