RAWALPINDI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday appeared before the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Rawalpindi branch in connection with the long-running fake bank accounts case.
A five-member NAB investigative team is currently probing the Sindh chief minister. Irfan Naeem Mangi, who is the head of the joint investigation team probing the case, also met Shah upon arrival at the old NAB headquarters.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nayyar Bokhari and Mustafa Khokhar are accompanying the Sindh chief minister to the headquarters of the accountability watchdog.
Ahead of his appearance before NAB, Shah held a consultative meeting with party leaders at the Sindh House.
The anti-graft body, through a notification issued to Shah, had asked him to make an appearance at the old NAB headquarters on March 26. The chief minister, however, had requested to appear a day earlier, which was approved.
Shah had been instructed to bring along all records pertaining to the Thatta Sugar Mills, as investigation continues into the mega money laundering and fake accounts case.
The FIA is investigating more than 30 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur. Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July 2018 in connection with the probe.
The former president’s other close aide and Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed a close aide and Omni Group chairman and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by FIA in August 2018.
Several ‘benami’ accounts at multiple private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources.
The amount, according to FIA sources, is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.
