FIA uncovers 30 more benami accounts 'used for money laundering'

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FIA uncovers 30 more benami accounts 'used for money laundering'

Sirajuddin Published November 4, 2018

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Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Deputy Directior General Tariq Pervez on Sunday said that his team has uncovered 30 more 'benami' bank accounts, which he alleged were being used for money laundering activities.

According to Pervez, the accounts are under the name of eight domestic workers who usually earn Rs12,000 to Rs15,000 per month. However, transactions worth a total of at least Rs10 billion were made from these accounts, he said.

"The accounts were being used in money laundering, and transactions in most districts of KP were made through these accounts," said Pervez.

He added that the accounts are located in Buner, Kalam, Swat and Basham.

"The identity cards of the individuals involved have been sent to the State Bank for compilation of more information," said Pervez.

Since September, several suspicious transactions uncovered exorbitant amounts stored in bank accounts owned by ordinary citizens.

These include a bank account owned by a food vendor in Karachi's Orangi Town and a rickshaw driver belonging to Korangi.

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Sattar

Nov 04, 2018 03:05pm

Is there any action taken on behalf of NAB and FIA on previous fake accounts ? The money which are processed through these accounts must have ended up in some other accounts. So find them and recover the money and put the culprit behind the bars !! We have not seen any progress in this regard !!! This shows the weakness of our institutions

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fairplay

Nov 04, 2018 03:08pm

it seems there are no triggers in the FIA, banks, tax sevices, car registration or other financial systems to flag such activities. not a coincidence, given zardaris recent tv interview, and his arrogance about benami accounts.

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bhaRAT©

Nov 04, 2018 03:09pm

These 'benami' bank accounts are coming out of woodwork. Goes to show how corrupt the past rulers were. Good work by this government in uncovering this huge corruption.

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Yel Sherzai

Nov 04, 2018 03:16pm

Funny. The Pak government has no idea what it can do until it tries.

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Yel Sherzai

Nov 04, 2018 03:18pm

Who knew domestic work was the road to riches?

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Buta

Nov 04, 2018 03:20pm

we hear lot about these Benami accounts used for money laundring, when will nation be told if any culprit is punished for this crime.

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Shahid

Nov 04, 2018 03:21pm

And then we wonder that why are we on FATF grey list

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Yel Sherzai

Nov 04, 2018 03:22pm

"The identity cards of the individuals involved have been sent to the State Bank for compilation of more information." The identity cards of the bankers involved need to be examined.

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M. Saeed

Nov 04, 2018 03:22pm

Wonderful discoveries! If we continue getting such treasure-troves of Benami finds in billions, very soon we shall have no need for any foreign loans.

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Jamaluddin

Nov 04, 2018 03:28pm

FIA of khaberpakhtoonkhawa has uncovered more benami accounts in kp which were being used for money laoundering.these accounts belong to the ordernery people,who earn more than Rs. 12000 to 15000.these accounts were used for laoindering money in kp. The identy cards of these account holders have been sent to state bank for the compilation of infornation. The acounts were under observation due to exorbitant amount transaction.

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WaytoGo

Nov 04, 2018 03:33pm

Why No actions taken against the banks where these transactions took place. SBP whould cancel the Banks licence for all unlaw full practice ASAP. Well only account holders are scapegoats or others are free to go !!!

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Salahuddin

Nov 04, 2018 04:01pm

Excellent work FIA .Keep it up

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Nov 04, 2018 04:13pm

All nonesense. Nawas shreef back in public. All drama to fool public so everyone keep getting salaries.

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Suleman

Nov 04, 2018 04:19pm

What action is the government taking against the banks involved? Certainly, it cannot happen without the collusion of the bank employees and authorities.

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Yasir

Nov 04, 2018 04:29pm

there is no way this can happen without banker being involved. please check who authorized account to be opened, and how come funds were transferred and bank audit and state bank audit did not identify this.

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Usman Pervaiz

Nov 04, 2018 04:31pm

keep discovering but no action on the culprits...how long we have to wait for result?

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Parvez

Nov 04, 2018 04:35pm

......but where is this leading to ? ......It seems nowhere.

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Taha

Nov 04, 2018 04:54pm

I wonder why doesn’t FIA question bank officials for these transactions and also was FIA sleeping earlier when these transactions were being made

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Usman

Nov 04, 2018 05:01pm

why is state bank not penalizing those banks which are responsible for opening fake accounts... there are clear rules & SOP for such banks how did those banks missed the standard SOP... very disappointing proceedings i this matter...

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khanm

Nov 04, 2018 05:20pm

FIA uncovers 30 more benami accounts 'used for money laundering ... please uncover who those people are behind those accounts and that and that would be a breaking news...If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

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Magnanimous approach

Nov 04, 2018 06:05pm

Instead of beating the bushes, the banks concerned must be asked, who opened and operated those accounts.

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Ahsan Gul

Nov 04, 2018 06:16pm

Besides identifying benames accounts, it is time to start recovering money and sending people involved to jail for long time.

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My mind

Nov 04, 2018 06:26pm

It seems like a very slow process to nab the culprits. What are they waiting for?

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M. Saeed

Nov 04, 2018 06:29pm

Let us make a Special Benami Fund from these discovered funds seized from various Benami accounts, instead of seeking loans.

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Justicefirst

Nov 04, 2018 06:34pm

The nation need the end result.Whether guilty has been caught and money recovered.

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MAKhan

Nov 04, 2018 06:42pm

Give 10% to the person whose name is being used, Government keeps the rest . Simple as that. Put it in the Dam-Fund and when the dam is completed, they should put a small 6" X 6" plaque at the dam with a 'thank-you' message to the original owner. We have to be civilized and thank the proper person for taking care of the nation's money for so long.

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Sukhera

Nov 04, 2018 07:04pm

The problem is with our banking industry which has not convereted its accounts from manual ledgers to computerised applications. Banks have to make the change in order to avoid money laundering , suspicious transactions and host of other problems. This investment is worth the effort to increase the efficiency and improve security of account holders. State Bank of Pakistan should issue directives to all banks to make the change in one year. Secondly these huge transaction were first reported in 2015 and the FIA is still investigating. They should wrap up the investigation and file charges against the culprits and bring the money back. If we keep going at this speed, it may take decades which is not acceptable.

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Amir Dewani- U.S.A

Nov 04, 2018 07:05pm

The F.I.A. must not make a mockery of the system by releasing piecemeal information on fake accounts. They seem to be putting the wool over the eyes of the government of PM Imran Khan! What is the delay in getting hold of the money launderers, the SBP auditors concerned and the banks for having connived with the culprits? If the drama being played by the agency concerned is allowed to prolong, the criminals will go Scott-free. Look, all the big criminals are waiting for the honorable C.J.P. to retire.

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Nov 04, 2018 09:23pm

Any transaction above Rs 1 lakh must be reported to Govt. To keep watch

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fakenews

Nov 04, 2018 10:21pm

@bhaRAT©, but it's not your government.

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fakenews

Nov 04, 2018 10:30pm

@My mind, for you to speak up.

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Factual.

Nov 04, 2018 10:33pm

Wastage of time all this ID cards identifications.Country needs urgent funds. Waterboard the bank managers of these benami bank accounts, they will lead FIA to zardaris and sharifs.And don't forget to refund billions of Rs from NAB given them, to keep their mouth shut against zardaries & sharifs, moneylaundering and corruptions.

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Amir

Nov 04, 2018 10:42pm

Fail to understand why it is so difficult to see where the money came in and to which account it was transferred. A simple trace will reveal the mystery that is being created

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Common Man

Nov 04, 2018 11:25pm

@Sattar, The previous fake accounts were used to write a NRO between IK and Zardari, so that Zardari and Bilawal are compelled to say "Imran Khan we are with you" That was the purpose of previous fake accounts which was achieved.

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Ali

Nov 04, 2018 11:42pm

The FIA uncovering another 30 "benami" accounts is excellent work. Now it must be fully investigated whose money was it and all the transactions made? Opening such accounts could not have been possible without the involvement of the Bank Managers? All these criminals must be promptly prosecuted.

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Shafiq Shah

Nov 05, 2018 12:06am

It is bank manager who is involved helping money laundering. Nobody can open an account without him personally present in the bank. Charge these bank manager, investigate them they will tell you the name of the real person involved in money laundering.

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Nov 05, 2018 02:01am

@Sattar, These are so intermingled transfers that to find the beginning and end of the money trail is not easy

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Nizamuddin Ahmad Aali

Nov 05, 2018 02:42am

Great news, so what. Where is the result?

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Changez Khan

Nov 05, 2018 03:17am

All 30 accounts belong to Zardari and his family.

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reality bites

Nov 05, 2018 03:48am

So what does the government do with these benami accounts' funds? They should just transfer the balance into the national treasury.

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Sami

Nov 05, 2018 03:53am

Arrest all these criminals and throw them in the jail !

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saad

Nov 05, 2018 04:53am

Why not the same day, all people and bank officials arrested immediately, court work comes later.

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Haroon

Nov 05, 2018 06:10am

How many people in Statebank are punished for these lapses? Was regulator sleeping when all this was happening in country? This is result of poor guidelines and regulatory framework setup by SBP.

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Nov 05, 2018 06:38am

Is any money ever recovered by FIA?

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Pasha

Nov 05, 2018 09:11am

FIA is a financial institutions regulatory authority that has fulflaged authority and responsibility to monitor and questioned how those faked accounts were opened and under whose authority the banking authorities were misused. Today, we all are in shocked and screaming about how these accounts were opened and who scammed such a prestigious institution were transferring billions into fraudulent accounts . It’s time to reform this system as we have seen the past results and management failures cannot be carried on. We can not afford another disastrous crises in Pakistan.

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