LONDON: The Metropolitan Police have identified no new line of inquiry after assessing the material passed on to it about the money laundering investigation against Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s founder Altaf Hussain, it was confirmed on Friday.

Police said the National Terrorist Financial Unit (NTFI) assessed the material that the Pakistani government had sent to them after the investigation was closed here in October 2016.

“In October 2016 the suspects in the case were advised that there would be no criminal prosecution following a police investigation and advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. All lines of inquiry have been exhausted, including international inquiries,” a Metropolitan (Met) police spokesman said.

“Since then, officers from the Met’s National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit have been passed further material in relation to that money laundering investigation, which has all been assessed and no additional lines of inquiry identified,” he added.

After investigating the MQM leader and his associates for nearly three years, the police dropped the case after the Crown Prosecution Service advised the police that it didn’t have sufficient evidence to charge the suspects.

It’s understood that the police presented the file before the CPS on three occasions seeking charges but the CPS assessment found that prospects for bringing successful prosecution were minimum and the Met accepted that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the money seized was the proceeds of crime or was intended for use in unlawful conduct.

The case against the MQM founder started in 2012 when Scotland Yard officers raided the MQM offices and found cash hidden in cupboards.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2018