KARACHI: A special court (offences in banks) on Tuesday partly heard arguments on bail applications of former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai and banker Taha Raza in a Rs4.14 billion money laundering case.

Mr Lawai and Mr Raza have been booked for allegedly facilitating opening of 29 ‘fake’ accounts in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Limited through which suspicious transactions were made to different companies including M/s Zardari Group.

Judge Tariq Mehmood Khosa asked the prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency to argue on the suspects’ pleas for better facilities in prison and grant of bail on July 26.

Last week, the investigating officer had filed an interim charge sheet in court showing 20 beneficiaries, including Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others as absconders in the case.

On Tuesday, defence counsel Shaukat Hayat and Syed Haider Imam Rizvi argued that the FIA IO Mohammad Ali Abro issued a call-up notice under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code to Mr Lawai on June 8 requiring him to appear on June 21 and produce documents of a bank account titled A-One International maintained in the Summit Bank’s Khayaban-i-Tanzeem Branch in Karachi.

From the said account, 10 bank transactions of substantial amount were credited in account of Naseer Abdullah Lootah maintained in the same bank’s Clifton branch.

They mentioned that the transactions pertained to the period from March 31, 2014 and Sept 24, 2014 and Mr Lawai promptly explained to the FIA that he was unaware of the transactions in question made in March/April 2014 in accounts of two branches.

Mr Lawai being the bank’s president had no function at all to deal or to have knowledge of the daily transactions of any account of any branch of the bank, they said, adding that the case against him was made purportedly based on verbal statement of co-accused Taha Raza without any document purported to be written, signed or directed by Mr Lawai to open the fake accounts.

They argued that the prosecution’s case lacked mandatory legal requirements, as the bank did not file any complaint for initiating inquiry/investigation against Mr Lawai, who was serving as chairman of Summit Bank (Pvt) Limited.

They further argued that the inquiry related to the transactions in question along with other accounts was initiated in 2015 and after finding no incriminating material it was closed by the then FIA officials, therefore it was surprising that the re-inquiry of the same matter was initiated without authorisation or new complaint.

The counsel alleged that the IO made up a concocted story against Mr Lawai, who was made a scapegoat in the case in the background of political enmity and malice.

Unless the prosecution first produced material that the amount deposited in the accounts by the reputed companies were illegitimate funds/crime proceeds, it had no footing and could not be sustained under the law, the counsel said.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2018