(Karachi) State Bank of Pakistan imposed heavy fines on 15 commercial banks for violating the foreign exchange law, media reported on Sunday.

As per details, fine worth Rs1.68 billion have been imposed on the banks under anti-money laundering and terror financing acts. The fines were imposed for the period March 2020 to June 2020.

Earlier, a court in Karachi ordered to freeze 20 bank accounts, on a request by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), for allegedly illicit transfer of foreign exchange, money laundering and benami transactions.

Similarly, the SBP imposed a fine on a private bank for non-compliance with the screening requirements under FATF AML guidelines. The SBP imposed the fine for ineffective customer screening procedures. The bank’s employees were involved in assisting transactions conducted by sanctioned persons. The bank was also involved in dealing with politically exposed people.

The Supreme Court also took a suo motu notice of a case in which 32 fake bank accounts were being held in different bank branches.