Rs25bn loss to Sindh Bank: Judgement on petition of accused’s wife reserved

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Thursday reserved its judgement over a petition of the wife of an accused of a case regarding loss of Rs25 billion to the Sindh Bank through money laundering seeking to abolish the caution on properties till June 30.

Accountability Court-II judge, Muhammad Azam Khan, while hearing the corruption reference regarding a loss of Rs25 billion to the Sindh Bank through money laundering, against former Sindh Bank president Bilal Sheikh, former president Asif Ali Zardari’s close aide Aftab Memon, Omni Group’s head Abdul Ghani Majeed, and others, reserved its decision regarding the application of Ishrat Bilal, wife of accused Bilal Sheikh, seeking to abolish the caution on her properties.

Usman Masood, prosecutor National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Mubashir Karim, investigation officer (IO) NAB, and Shajar Abbas, counsel for the accused, appeared before the court.

During the hearing, the NAB prosecutor contended that the petitioner was directed by the court to furnish the relevant documents which prove this fact that the rented amount claimed by the petitioner had been deposited in joined cautioned accounts of the parties.

However, petitioners did not produce a single document in this regard.

Moreover, the petitioner also did not mention in the application that the account be de-cautioned accordingly, therefore the application of the petitioner is not maintainable.

The court, after the completion of arguments of both the parties regarding the petition of Ishrat Bilal, wife of Bilal Sheikh observed that the decision on de-caution application of Sheikh’s wife will be announced during the next hearing to be held on June 30.

According to a joint investigation report of fake accounts case, a project loan of Rs1 billion was disbursed to M/s Rubicon Builders (Pvt) Ltd on December 1, 2014, by the Sindh Bank.

However, these funds were diverted from the stated purpose and routed through various fake accounts through multiple split transactions (smurfing technique of layering/money-laundering) on the same date, and transferred to the account of Nasser Abdullah Lootah.

It was then “injected into Summit Bank as equity”. As per the report, it is noteworthy that M/s Rubicon is owned by Younas Kidwai (a trusted front man of Asif Ali Zardari) and Aslam Masood (CFO, Omni Group).

Hence, M/s Rubicon is a “shady” company “controlled” by Asif Ali Zardari, and was directly involved in “misappropriation” and diverting loans into Summit Bank as (laundered) equity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022