LAHORE, Nov 12: Hefty sums of money deposited by a number of people from here and abroad, who had opted for ‘valid’ transactions through the Khanani and Kalia foreign exchange company, have been stuck for ‘indefinite period’.They can only check with the company provided the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) allows the company to resume its business.

The SBP on last Monday had suspended the licence of the Khanani and Kalia International (Private) Limited for 30 days after the arrest of its directors -- Javed Khanani and Munaf Kalia -- on charges of ‘illegally’ transferring huge sums of foreign currency abroad.

Sources informed Dawn on Wednesday that the SBP might extend the suspension period on the request of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) because the latter required more time for investigation.

However, while addressing a press conference in Karachi Wednesday evening, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rahman Malik claimed that investments deposited with Khanani & Kalia under valid Hawala transactions would be returned to accountholders within 48 hours.

Under the SBP orders, company’s head office, its branches, franchises, payment and currency exchange booths have been debarred from undertaking any business during the suspension period.

The sources said the company had huge sums of money of its customers with it for ‘proper’ and otherwise transactions when the FIA busted its offices and franchises in different parts of the country.

They said the FIA had only made public the recovery of a ‘tiny’ sum of Rs786,000 from one of its franchises in Gujranwala and there was no ‘official word’ about the other amounts.

FIA Lahore wing director Azam Joya was not available for comment.

On Wednesday, the sources said, the FIA Lahore had started interrogating Javed Khanani and Munaf Kalia who were under physical remand for the past four and seven days, respectively. “No proper interrogation was launched during the first three days after obtaining Khanani’s remand while Kalia’s remand was granted on Tuesday, sources added.

FIA officials remained tight-lipped about the outcome of their interrogation. However, sources maintained that they (investigators) failed to extract information regarding the big ‘fish’ involved in ‘illegal’ transfer of foreign currency.

On the other hand, the FIA have taken the possession of ‘18’ computers from offices of the Khanani and Kalia and its franchises in the country. However, the main server is still lying with the Karachi wing of FIA and the Lahore has requested for its transfer.

Sources informed that the FIA senior officers instead of sending the computers to the forensic laboratory in Islamabad had been analyzing it here in Lahore where no such facilities were available.

Khanani and Kalia are reportedly engaging a former Supreme Court Bar Association president to pursue their case.