The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday arrested a former employee of a private bank from Karachi over charges of his involvement in a case regarding opening of fake bank accounts of some parliamentarians, it has been learnt.

“The suspect, an ex-employee of SME Bank, was found involved in issuance of fake TDRs (Term Deposit Reports) to various parliamentarians. He has been arrested by a team of FIA's commercial banking circle,” read a brief statement issued by FIA spokesperson.

According to officials, the suspect was found involved in issuing fake TDRs to parliamentarians including the Senate chairman, the National Assembly Speaker, the opposition leaders in NA and Senate respectively.

However, the FIA officials told Dawn that initial investigation suggested that the arrested suspect wanted to ‘punish’ his ex-employer who had dismissed him last year over fraud case. "That is why he (suspect) had sent receipts of the TDRs with name of his [former employer] to the lawmakers."

The sources revealed that the suspect was arrested by FIA around six months ago over charges of preparing ‘fake pay order and guarantee’ of Civil Aviation Authority. He was arrested on complaint of one, Barkat Ali Lashari, chief manager of the SME Bank.

He had remained incarcerated for some months in prison before being released on bail.

The FIA officials said that the held suspect had issued TDRs using the name of Lashari.

When the FIA received complaints from the Senate chairman and opposition leaders in NA and Senate, they approached Lashari who provided significant clue about the possible suspect.

Subsequently, the FIA team conducted raid in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of the metropolis and arrested the suspect. The FIA team also seized TDRs from his home.

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