SHC questions FIA’s delayed response in PTI’s foreign funding case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday questioned the delay in the initiation of an inquiry by the Federal Investigation Agency in a foreign funding case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders despite the passage of 10 years.

Confirming pre-arrest bail of businessman Tariq Shafi and co-accused Faisal Maqbool Sheikh, a single bench, headed by Justice Omar Sial, observed that such a slow and delayed response from law enforcement agencies to an offence allegedly committed despite the making of full declarations to the regulators is not only unacceptable but should also be a cause of concern for the state.

The court observed that the transaction of which the FIA complains was made in the year 2013 but the FIA seems to have noticed it 10 years later. It further observed that this gap in time raises the question whether immediate capacity building of the agency is required that if it took the agency a decade to notice what it now calls a “suspicious transaction”.

The court said that keeping in view the financial distress that the country faces, any action by the state against remittances coming in, if not thought out properly and not initiated with good intent, has the enormous potential of having an adverse impact on the confidence of foreign investors who might become apprehensive of bringing in funds to the country because of the fear that a decade later, the FIA may decide that they are guilty of a crime.

It observed that it is for the FIA to probe and figure out why the cricket club didn’t “put it directly in the account of the political party.” It said that if a political party violated a law governing political parties and received money it could not have pursuant to that law, then perhaps an action under that law would be justified.

The court remarked that the federal law officer agreed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with bringing foreign currency into the country through legitimate banking channels; however, he was of the view that the intent of the parties behind the current disputed transaction was dubious.

The case was registered last year over their involvement in connection with the prohibited funding case against the party and submission of false affidavits to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The FIA alleged that Shafi received $575,000 from a foreign cricket club into his own account maintained at a private bank through a transfer made on May 7, 2013. The amount was transferred the following day into an account of the PTI. He received $1.84 million into his account from certain offshore companies owned by him, without seeking the requisite approvals of the State Bank of Pakistan.

The FIA alleged that several sections of the law of foreign exchange regulation are said to have been violated.

The applicant’s counsel, Munir A Malik, submitted that an amount of $600,000 was remitted from an offshore company to an account owned and operated by Shafi and $600,000 was converted into Pakistan rupees through official channels.

The court observed that this was not a hidden or a clandestine transfer as much needed foreign currency came into our economy through legitimate banking channels. The court observed that there seems to be little evidence, which would prima facie show the mens rea of the players involved at this preliminary stage.

It said there was no evidence on record to show that Shafi believed or had reasons to believe at the stage that he had received the remittance that these were proceeds of crime.

The court observed that no evidence has been shown to the court which would show that Naqvi sent the money to Shafi with the mens rea of circumventing the law.

The court observed that the case against the applicants is also one that requires further inquiry. It observed that a prerequisite to pre-arrest bail is the presence of malafide intention. It said that mere fact that the case was initiated in 2022 for a transaction that took place in 2013 and that it has been highlighted by the FIA after a change in the government appears prima facie to be malafide.