Omni Group office 'raided' by law enforcement personnel, lawyer says

Published October 10, 2018
The Majeeds were arrested by the FIA on the Supreme Court premises on August 15.  —File
The Majeeds were arrested by the FIA on the Supreme Court premises on August 15. —File

The lawyer representing Omni Group in a money laundering case on Tuesday claimed that the group's offices in Karachi were ‘raided’ by law enforcement officials.

Lawyer Muhammad Jamshed said, “There has been a raid on the offices of Omni Group near Hockey Stadium [in Karachi]."

He also claimed that the raiding party had cordoned off the area at the time of the alleged raid.

While talking to Dawn, the lawyer said that the men did not present any search warrant and forced the guards to leave the premises.

“The CCTV cameras installed inside the office premises have also been disconnected,” Jamshed claimed.

However, the lawyer did provide some screengrabs from a security camera feed in which unarmed men in civilian clothes were pictured inside the premises a while before midnight.

The lawyer alleged that the raid was carried out by officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA ), claiming that it might be an attempt “to plant incriminating evidence, albeit illegally.”

Jamshed was of the view that “since the JIT has found that no offence has been committed by the Omni Group or their sponsors, therefore, the officials are acting in desperation and conducting a raid in the middle of the night”.

When asked if the Omni Group will file a complaint with police regarding the alleged raid, the lawyer said there was “no point involving the police in this”.

“They [police] don’t lodge any complaint in a matter in which FIA is involved,” he said.

Khawaja Anvar Majeed, a close aide of former president Asif Zardari, and Abdul Ghani Majeed of the Omni Group are the prime accused in the Rs35 billion fake accounts case which is currently under investigation by the FIA.

The Majeeds were arrested by the FIA on the Supreme Court premises on August 15.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, a three-judge SC bench has taken up the case which was initially being heard at a banking court in Karachi.

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