FIA detects over Rs4bn money-laundering under solar panel imports

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has reportedly detected over Rs 4 billion money-laundering under the garb of solar panel imports.

According to details, the FIA corporate crime circle has registered a case against the accused person over allegations of involvement in suspicious withdrawal transactions of huge amounts with unrelated counter parties of far-flung areas which were suspected to be hawala, hundi operators in violation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FER) 1947.

During the initial course of investigation, it was revealed that the accused person was maintaining multiple accounts in different banks and heavy turnover amounting to over Rs4.9 billion were noticed in these accounts.

Apart from hawala, hundi activities and smuggling, it also came to light that the accused person also indulged in import of solar panels and other materials from abroad by way of hawala, hundi.

Moreover, all these transactions were made from Karachi by the accused person under the garb of fake trading companies established for the purpose of money laundering.

After verifying the veracity of the information, a team of CCC FIA has conducted a raid at his office and seized the relevant documents, cash, computers, etc for further investigation.

As a result of counter verification of seized documents, it has been established that the accused person along with his other accomplices were using the office for money laundering purposes under the garb of import and export of solar panels and other materials.

Therefore, the FIA has arrested four accused persons and registered the case and charged 10 persons under section 4(1)/5/23 of FER, 1947. Further investigation is in progress.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021