KARACHI: A banking court reserved on Saturday its order on the bail application of former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai and another suspect in a Rs4.14 billion money laundering case.

The judge reserved the order for Monday after hearing arguments from the defence counsel and the law officer of the Federal Investigation Agency.

Advocate Shaukat Hayat, appearing for suspect Lawai, asked the court to grant bail to his client as no material evidence had been produced by the investigating agency.

Defence alleges FIA tortured Ghani Majeed for confessional statement

The FIA prosecutor, however, vehemently opposed the bail application, submitting that fake accounts were opened and operated under the nose of Lawai, who was the then president of Summit Bank.

The prosecutor said that the suspects were allegedly involved in a “white-collar” crime that involved as many as 29 fake bank accounts.

He said that the investigation agency had to probe as to why these fake accounts were operated.

The IO submitted that the data of Lawai’s cellular phone, emails and WhatsApp messages had been retrieved as evidence. He said that details were available about the bank transactions.

The IO said that of the 29 fake banks accounts, 16 were opened in Summit Bank.

The defence counsel submitted that there was no evidence against Lawai. He said that the WhatsApp messages had no evidentiary value until their forensic examination.

He contended that not a single penny was ever transferred into the account of his client.

The defence counsel said that the FIA had made tall claims before the Supreme Court, but it miserably failed to bring any piece of evidence in the trial court.

He argued that Lawai was entitled to bail in the case as no incriminating evidence was so far produced by the prosecution.

Application against torture

Advocate Farooq H. Naek moved an application in the trial court against alleged torture of FIA on his client Abdul Ghani Majeed, who is a suspect along with his father Anwar Majeed in the money laundering case.

He submitted in the application that Majeed was not allowed to sleep the whole night in custody by FIA officials who were forcing him to give a confessional statement.

The defence counsel asked the court to restrain the joint investigation team from interrogating Ghani Majeed after dusk or during night.

He further asked the court to order Majeed’s production in court on Aug 20 for recording his statement.

Advocate Naek also sought permission to meet his client every day for one hour till the expiry of his remand on Aug 24.

The court would announce its order on Monday.

Later, talking to media representatives outside the banking court, Advocate Naek alleged that FIA officials tortured Ghani Majeed for the whole night.

He said that the court had put the FIA officials on notice on his application against torture.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2018