RAWALPINDI: A team from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s counter-terrorism wing will leave for the United Kingdom in the first week of next month to collect evidence against MQM founder Altaf Hussain in a case related to alleged money laundering, illegal transfer and misuse of the party’s charity wing funds.

According to sources, the FIA team will be led by Director Dr Mazharul Haq Kakakhail. A money laundering case had been registered against Mr Hussain in September 2017 at the FIA State Bank circle on the complaint of Sarfaraz Anwar Merchant, a businessman who had been close to the MQM leader in London. A section of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was also included in the FIR.

The place of the occurrence of the crime was mentioned in the FIR to be London and Karachi.

In the FIR, the complainant alleged that the party leaders used to send money to Mr Hussain from the bank account of Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation (KKF) through the illegal channel of ‘Hawala’.

The sources said the names of five MQM leaders who had been sending money to Mr Hussain in the UK were also included in the FIR.

The FIA team will also gather evidence against the MQM leader in connection with the murder of senior party leader Dr Imran Farooq in London in September 2010.

The MQM founder and six others are facing charges of hatching a conspiracy to murder Mr Farooq. The five other people included Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim and Mohsin Ali who are languishing in the Adiala jail.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2018