KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency has registered a case against Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder Altaf Hussain pertaining to “terror financing and money laundering” exactly a year after British investigators dropped the same probe against him because of “insufficient evidence”.

According to official documents, the FIR was lodged by the agency’s State Bank Circle on the complaint of UK-based businessman Sarfaraz Merchant, who alleged that Mr Hussain also received Indian funding for financing terrorism in Karachi.

Interestingly, Mr Merchant was among half a dozen suspects who faced the money laundering investigation in London. He was detained and interrogated by Scotland Yard some time back, but the probe against him and Mr Hussain was dropped in October 2016.

Mr Merchant recently filed an application with the authorities asking them to take “legal action to impose a ban on MQM because being foreign-aided political party involved in misrepresentation of facts and money laundering”.

Sarfaraz Merchant wants Muttahida banned; MQM-London denies charges

The FIA converted his complaint into an FIR against Mr Hussain and “his accomplices in UK & Pakistan and others”.

It was registered under Sections 121 (waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan), 122 (collecting arms, etc, with intention of waging war against Pakistan), 123-A (condemnation of the creation of the state, and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 477-A (fraudulent cancellation, destruction, etc, of will, authority to adopt, or valuable security), and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2010 as well as Sections 11 (H), 11 (I) and 11 (J) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Mr Merchant alleged that the charity wing of the MQM — Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation (KKF) — was used as a source of illegal money transfer to Mr Hussain in London.

“Huge cash withdrawals can be observed from bank accounts of KKF which are also being misused for purchase of weapons of destruction, cash smuggling to UK for Altaf Hussain, terrorism activities in Pakistan and funding for election period etc,” reads the FIR.

It said Mr Hussain and some other members of the MQM were apparently guilty of money laundering, “acting against the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan” and creating chaos and terrorism for its “disintegration”.

In 2016, the Metropolitan Police closed their investigations into possible money laundering by Mr Hussain and a few others, including Mr Merchant. The British investigators said that they would no longer seek to seize the money found in the MQM properties in the course of the investigation during which six people were arrested, 11 others interviewed and nine premises searched.

Despite all that work, the UK police said: “There is not a realistic prospect of a successful prosecution under UK law, therefore the investigation is now complete and no further action will be taken.”

In the course of their investigation into the 2010 murder of senior MQM leader Imran Farooq, the UK police found £29,000 in Mr Merchant’s London apartment, £167,525.92 in the MQM’s offices in London and a further £289,785.32 in Mr Hussain’s home. All those funds were later returned after the closure of the investigation.

An FIA official said that Mr Merchant personally contacted the authorities and came up with a set of allegations against Mr Hussain with a “promise” to further cooperate in finding evidence against the London-based leader.

“It depends on cooperation from other [UK] side,” the FIA official said when asked about the prospects of the investigation when Mr Hussain had already come clean after going through a lengthy process in London. “The FIR has been lodged on very initial information provided by Mr Merchant.”

He said Mr Merchant had provided details of all illegal banking channels which were used for funds transfer and other sources as well as for money laundering. “Our investigators would first do their homework analysing facts and cross-check the banking record which would set the course of further probe to involve or seek cooperation from the British authorities.”

Meanwhile, the coordination committee of the MQM-London condemned what it called “baseless allegations” of money laundering against Mr Hussain as well as KKF charity.

“We categorically reject this case, which is registered on the complaint of a person who himself is wanted in several crimes by the courts,” said a statement released from London.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2017