Former President and Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on Monday appeared before a joint investigation team of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and recorded their statements in a multibillion rupees money laundering case relating to fake bank accounts.
FIA Additional Director General Najaf Mirza chaired the meeting at the agency's office and questioned Zardari and Talpur. Asif and Talpur along with PPP leaders, including Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman and Qamar Zaman Kaira, reached the FIA office amid tight security.
According to some private TV channels, the FIA team questioned Zardari and Talpur about fake accounts and transactions associated with them.
However, in a joint press conference, PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nayyer Hussain Bokhari and Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said that Asif Zardari has nothing to do with the Zardari Group since 2008 when he had become President of Pakistan. Zardari and Talpur are witnesses in the FIR and they are not accused, they claimed.
They said this is also misleading report that FIA officials asked questions about bank transactions. No question was asked by the FIA team, they said. After meeting with FIA team, Zardari while talking to media persons said: "It is a fake case and unfortunately the case against me was filed during the tenure of Nawaz Sharif. It was filed at the behest of Mian Sahib."
He said: "The FIA (officials) can ask whatever they want, but the crux of the matter is [that] facts [speak otherwise]."
Later on, Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian (PPP-P) Secretary General Farhatullah Babar wrote a letter to the chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to address false and misleading reports aired by a private TV channel (not Aaj News), wherein questions asked by the FIA and the replies given by Zardari and Faryal Talpur were reported falsely.
Babar said: "The channel has aired an imaginary and totally wrong report. It is not correct that Asif Zardari was asked some questions about the Zardari Group of Companies. At the outset the investigators were emphatically told that Zardari has nothing to do with the Zardari Group of Companies since becoming President of Pakistan in 2008. Any illegality having taken place at any point of time in the affairs of the company was also denied. As a matter of fact in the FIR, Zardari and Talpur are witnesses and not the accused."
"It is also wrong to say that both Zardari and Talpur were handed over questionnaires. No such questionnaires were given to them today (Monday). Even Senator Farooq Naek who is the focal person for Zardari and Talpur in the matter of investigation of the case has not been given any questionnaire," he further said.
"The report has also created serious misperceptions about them, vitiated public opinion and amounts to blatant media trial. It is also against the observations of honorable Supreme Court that no such reports about investigation process be aired or published."
"It is the responsibility of PEMRA to prevent the broadcast of fabricated and false reports. It is therefore requested that strong and decisive action be immediately taken against the channel and all channels be restrained from broadcasting such reports," said the letter.
Zardari and Talpur are being investigated as part of a corruption case relating to fake accounts and fictitious bank transactions worth Rs 35 billion. Both are facing allegations that they had illegally channeled funds through the said accounts in connivance with the CEOs of major banks.
The case was initially registered in 2015 against former Pakistan Stock Exchange Chairman Hussain Lawai.
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