RAWALPINDI: Investigators in the Ayyan Ali case have decided to arrest a middleman and a buyer in the deal for the files of residential plots which the model claimed to have sold. The arrest warrants are expected to be issued soon.  

Sources close to the investigation revealed that the Customs Investigators have decided to arrest the middleman Mumtaz, who she claimed had arranged the deal for the five plots she sold in Bahria Town as well as a buyer, identified as Awais Ahmed.

The investigators have summoned the two men twice, since the investigation was launched, but they failed to appear before the investigators to record their statements. It is expected that they will be arrested as soon as their arrest warrants are issued.

Also read: Zardari laundered money through Ayyan: Zulfiqar Mirza

Supermodel Ayyan Ali was arrested in March from Benazir Bhutto International Airport, after she was caught attempting to smuggle over $500,000 out of the country.

In her statement, Ms Ali had told the investigators that she had made the money by selling the files for five residential plots in Bahria Town, Karachi. Ms Ali’s lawyers had already submitted documents related to the deal. The details of the sale were written on the letter pad of an estate agency called ‘First Choice’.

The model also claimed that she had received the amount in cash, in the form of US dollars. The buyer of the files of the plots was identified as Mumtaz, who had facilitated the deal on behalf of Najeeb Haroon a well-off businessman residing in Dubai with close links to a former federal minister.

While Najeeb Haroon appeared before the investigators and recorded his statement, the two men Mumtaz and Awais Ahmed, who is also said to be a buyer, have not appeared despite being summoned twice. The investigators have decided to move forward by arresting them.

Meanwhile, weeks later the investigators have been unable to break the codes on her mobile phones and retrieve the deleted data from them. The two phones, an I-phone and a Blackberry, were found in her possession at the time of her arrest on March 14.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2015

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