ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday took the custody of Omni Group of Companies chairman Khawaja Anvar Majeed and his brother Ghani Majeed on the Supreme Court premises after their appearance before the court in the Rs35 billion fake accounts case.
FIA officials arrested the two accused when a three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that the court was neither issuing any directive nor restraining the agency from taking them into custody, rather the FIA was free to do whatever it deemed fit in furtherance of the inquiry.
The court had taken up a suo motu case regarding fake accounts that revolves around a 2015 inquiry into the suspicious transactions when 29 ‘benami’ accounts were identified — 16 opened in the Summit Bank, eight in the Sindh Bank and five in the UBL. Seven individuals were found involved in transacting Rs35bn suspiciously. Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai, a close aide to former president Asif Zardari, and co-accused Taha Raza, unit corporate head of the Summit Bank, are already under FIA custody.
The apex court also ordered placing on the Exit Control List (ECL) the names of two sons of Mr Majeed — Ali Kamal Majeed and Mustafa Zulqurnain Majeed who were also present in the court — with an observation that if former president Asif Ali Zardari or his sister Faryal Talpur and Zain Malik of Bahria Town could appear before the FIA then why not members of the Majeed family.
The directives were issued despite the fact that senior counsel Shahid Hamid, representing the Omni Group of Companies, assured the court that although the names of other two sons were not on the ECL, they would join the investigation and would not leave the country without first seeking permission from the court.
Taking notice of the absence of Anvar Majeed, who was abroad then, the apex court had at the last hearing on Aug 13 ordered the accused to appear before it on Wednesday.
Earlier in an application, Mr Majeed had requested the court to drop his name from the case, especially when the FIA had already submitted interim charge sheet No 12 of 2018 against him before a trial court.
When the counsel requested the court to unfreeze bank accounts and other properties of the accused so that salaries of their employees could be disbursed, it observed that it was up to the FIA to freeze or unfreeze the accounts.
The case will be taken up on Aug 28.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018
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