Fake accounts case

Seven Sindh MPs, five secretaries, 12 bankers on ECLBy Tariq Butt *** Mumtaz AlviISLAMABAD: Seven members of Sindh Assembly, five provincial secretaries and other top Sindh officials are among 172 persons who have been barred by the federal government from foreign travel by putting their names on the Exit Control List (ECL).The restriction was imposed on the basis of report of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that probed the alleged fake bank accounts. The JIT had requested the Supreme Court to order inclusion of these names in the ECL. However, it had not issued any direction in this connection.The Sindh secretaries who face the travel bar include Agha Wasif (Energy), Ghulam Mustafa Phul and Saqib Soomro (Land utilisation), Sohail Rajput (Finance) and Syed Zameer Haider (Industries).The Sindh lawmakers are Faryal Talpur (sister of Asif Ali Zardari), Syed Murad Ali Shah (chief minister), Qaim Ali Shah (former chief minister), Mukesh Chawla, Ali Nawaz Mehar, Sohail Anwar Sial (former home minister) and Imtiaz Sheikh, the sitting minister.There are two members of the National Assembly – Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal - whose names have been placed on the ECL. Nine senior officials of Sindh government facing the ban are Nisar Ahmed Shaikh, Additional Secretary Finance, Hasan Raza Abbasi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the STDC (Sindh Tourism Development Corporation), Syed Shah Nawaz Nadir, Director STDC, Kazijaan Mohammad, Deputy Commissioner Malir, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Member Board of Revenue Sindh, Manzoor Qadir Kaka, Director General of the Sindh Building Control Authority, Ali Akbar Abro, XEN Sindh Coal Authority, Muhammad Rafiq Qureshi (former Deputy Commissioner of Badin and South Karachi, and ex-director of Anti-Corruption Establishment of Sindh) and Hassan Ally Memon. Some of the officers are presently holding these positions while others had held them earlier.The names of 12 bankers have also been included in the ECL. They are Ahsan Raza Durrani and Hussain Lawai (currently in custody of the National Accountability Bureau) of Summit Bank, Ahsan Tariq and M. Bilal Shaikh of the Sindh Bank, Masud Karim Shaikh, Head Corporate, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Syed Ali Raza, ex-President NBP, Mst. Sarwat Azeem and Muhammad Mukhtar Ahmed, Managers of the Sindh Bank, Muhammad Nasir Sheikh, ManagerOperations Summit Bank, Nadeem Altaf, Group Head Credit, Sindh Bank, Nadeem Anwar Ilyas, Head Corporate NBP and Zaheer Ismail of the Summit Bank.Besides, three officials - Ali Azeem Ikram, Tahir Mahmood (currently abroad) and Abid Hussain – of the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) also face the travel restriction. Also, the names of chiefs of different construction companies, engineering firms, consultant companies and drilling companies figure in the ECL. Never before had such a large number been put on the ECL as a result of investigation into one case.In its report, the JIT has recommended filing of sixteen references against those held responsible for operating fake bank accounts for the purposes of money-laundering.The Supreme Court will decide on Dec 31 whether to let the cases proceed against the accused persons in the Karachi banking court which is seized with them or direct the NAB to submit these references to the accountability courts on the basis of JIT findings.If the apex court ordered filing of references based on the JIT report, it will be following the trajectory and precedent that it set in the case of the Panama JIT against the Sharif family.The NAB then could not do any independent investigation and submitted the four references in the accountability court of Islamabad, totally relying on the JIT recommendations. It is a legally admitted fact that the report of any JIT is just investigation that a court may accept or reject.As the case mainly relates to Zardari, Bilawal and Faryal Talpur, the PPP supremo is preparing to put up a battle first in the trial court and subsequently in the superior courts.The government Friday released the list of 172 people who have been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) for being suspects in money laundering and fake bank accounts case.Moreover, Omni Group head Anwar Majeed and his family, including wife Nazli Majeed, sons Abdul Ghani Majeed, Mustafa Zulqarnain Majeed and Nimr Majeed, are on the list.Tahir Mehmood, acting chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan is also on the list. Real estate tycoons Malik Riaz and his son-in-law Zain Malik’s names have also been put on the ECL.In a recently released report, the JIT alleged Malik Riaz was involved in giving kickbacks through these fake accounts.Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain announced the government’s decision to place names of all the suspects, mentioned in the JIT report on the ECL, creating ripples on the political scene. The potential development, it is believed, can lead to new political alignments in near future, turning foes into friends and vice versa.

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