Conflicting views on Ayyan’s case

RAWALPINDI: Supermodel Ayyan Ali was arrested by the Customs officials on March 14 from Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad after recovering $508,000 from her possession.
She was arrested for violation of Section 2(s) of the Customs Act 1969 which is a ‘predicate offence’ under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010. The offence is non-bailable and non-cognizable.
Before it, Special Customs Court (SCC), Rawalpindi and Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench rejected her bail plea.
But, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) granted her bail in the money smuggling case on Tuesday and ordered her immediate release from the Adiala Jail.
The supermodel had contacted different known lawyers in four months including Malik Waheed Anjum, Ansar Nawaz Mirza, Sardar Ishaq Khan and Khurram Latif Khosa for bail.
The News contacted different lawyers in which Malik Waheed Anjum advocate and Ansar Nawaz Mirza said Ayyan Ali was innocent and a false case had been registered against her.
According to them, she committed no offence as she had declared the money. They said the entire proceedings carried out by the Customs authorities were illegal.
The sections of the law leveled in the FIR were not relevant to the case and the case does not fall in the prohibitory clause. The petitioner is a female and entitled to the discretionary relief of bail.
On the contrary, Special Public Prosecutor (Customs) Muhammad Amin Feroz opposed the arguments of Ayyan’s lawyers and argued that the petitioner was nominated in the FIR.
An amount of $506,800, concealed in the suitcase for smuggling abroad was recovered from her and she failed to produce any legal export documents on the occasion, he said.
He also said Ayyan was involved in a ‘white collar’ crime which was not only an offence falling within the prohibitory clause, but also commission of the same was an offence against the state.
He further submitted that her case was of

financial corruption and she was not entitled to grant of discretionary relief of bail at this early stage.
According to Raja Muhammad Hafiz, the father of Ayyan Ali, his daughter was innocent.
“Registration of a money laundering-cum-smuggling case against my daughter is a deep conspiracy,” he said.
Advocate Khurram Latif Khosa, the council for the supermodel, claimed that the Customs officials had arrested her and raised fake charges of money smuggling.
“She had been behind the bars for the last four months and under Customs Act if the accused is a woman and if the investigation is completed she can be bailed out,” the counsel upheld.
Further, he said his client is a woman and investigation is complete; therefore, she should be released on bail.
The supermodel’s counsel also said that laws for money laundering and money smuggling are of different kind but the Customs authorities raised allegations of money laundering against her.
According to the factual position, he said, Ayyan should have been charged with money smuggling.
“For money laundering, it is necessary for an accused to board a flight but she was not; therefore, allegations against her are baseless and she should be granted bail,” he added.
Khurram Latif Khosa also said his client was not taking money out of the country but was waiting for someone at the airport to hand the cash over to them.
He said the model had acquired the amount on behalf of her brother who was in Dubai and had sold his property in Pakistan.
He argued that Ayyan had a certificate and evidence about the cash and property sale but she was not given a chance by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Customs officials to produce them.
While, public prosecutor said that EK-651 was a Dubai-bound airline scheduled to take off at 3:30am. “She neither showed any evidence nor had any certificate on the occasion.”
The counsel for the supermodel went on to add that his client is an honourable girl implicated in a fake case as part of a conspiracy.
“Customs authorities illegally implicated her in a money laundering case. Ayyan neither got her boarding card nor stamp of exit on her passport; therefore, she does not fall under the definition of a traveler and in such a situation no money laundering case was justified against her,” the counsel upheld.
On the other hand, another customs lawyer Malik Kamal said Ayyan failed to justify her stance and was caught red-handed on the occasion.
Inspector Saleem of the Customs department had also requested the court to allow them to interrogate Ayyan to know where the money had come from and why it was being smuggled out of the country.
Ayyan was booked to travel on a flight to Dubai from Benazir Bhutto International Airport on March 14 when Customs officials recovered about $508,000 from her luggage.
According to the Airport Security Force (ASF), officials spotted the currency tucked away in the pockets of a suitcase she had in her carry-on luggage.
Deputy Collector Customs Naveed Bugvi told The News that ASF officers stopped Ayyan at the Rawal Lounge after baggage scanners detected an anomaly.
“Customs officials were called and Customs Collector Zeba Azhar found $506,800 in the suitcase,” he said. Bugvi also said an FIR was registered under the Customs Act 1969.
Following the registration of a case, Ayyan was sent to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital for a medical checkup.
Farhat Nawaz Lodhi, a prosecutor of Customs department, said officials had arrested the accused red-handed while carrying amount abroad. He said the amount was recovered from her baggage through scanners.
He said Customs investigators were verifying the documents provided by the lawyer of Ayyan.
“Besides, two mobile phones were confiscated and sent to the department concerned for data but they were locked due to security codes,” he said.
The prosecutor said she had paid 40 foreign visits. He also gave some references of smuggling cases in which smugglers were convicted and jailed.
Earlier, the Customs officials presented the charge sheet against Ayyan Ali in the case.
Officials have reportedly charged the model with currency smuggling. The defence team is expected to plead not guilty and will likely produce private witnesses in the case.
The court will also hear the application of Customs intelligence to register a new money laundering case against the suspect.
Further, a group of civil society activists gathered outside the National Press Club on July 11 to protest against what they called character assassination and propaganda against Ayyan Ali.
On the other hand, upon acquiring concrete evidence, the Intelligence and Investigation Inland Revenue (I&IIR) has accelerated the investigation process against Ayyan Ali.
The I&IIR has managed to gather a good number of evidences in the case which will lead to the arrest of the real culprits behind this money laundering case,” sources in the I&IIR disclosed.
They said the investigation body had been able to successfully unearth various facts in the case and the links that were patronising the supermodel.
“During the course of investigations, it has been found that Ayyan, who actually belongs to Gujar Khan, owns an expensive luxury apartment in a posh housing society of Karachi while she has failed to disclose her sources of income,” the sources maintained.
During the course of investigations, it was also found that the model also got Rs22 million in the form of 11 bank drafts which were delivered to her by a woman, who is living in Mirpur Khas, they said, adding that the details of the woman who gave the drafts to Ayyan Ali were also available with the I&IIR but her name was not being shared now because she would also be investigated.
The sources said the I&IIR had also sought details from all those airlines on which the supermodel had traveled.
The airlines had been asked to provide details of her visits abroad with detailed information regarding the payment of tickets.
The I&IIR has the record of her 34 visits abroad, but so far it has failed to get Ayyan Ali to tell the source of her income and the purpose behind her visits, they added.
The supermodel has been released from Adiala Jail but the murder of Pakistan Customs Inspector Muhammad Ejaz, who was investigating the money laundering case, shows that some big guns are behind her.
Facts would never be revealed in the case, as big players are coming in the picture and they are all untouchables belonging to the political elite.
The supermodel would appear before the Special Customs Court, Rawalpindi on July 27 and it is expected that she would be indicted the same day.