FIA registers case against Moonis, others

LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Circle of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday registered a case against PMLQ leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi and others over charges of money laundering. The FIA also arrested two nominated accused after registering the case.

Moonis, after registration of the case, appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency, but was told to appear before the FIA investigation officer today (Thursday) at 8:30am. He remained in the FIA office for less than half an hour.

The first information report, a copy of which is available with The News, reads that the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle had launched an inquiry on August 7, 2020 pursuant to a report of the Sugar Inquiry Commission 2020. It said the FIA was mandated by the federal government to probe financial and corporate frauds committed by various sugar mills, including the Rahim Yar Khan Alliance Sugar Mills.

The FIR said that during the course of inquiry, it revealed that low profile individuals identified as Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Abbas jointly set up the RYK Sugar Mills in 2007/2008. The mill office was located at 8-Shami Road, Cantt. It is pertinent to mention here that Nawaz Bhatti is a brother-in-law of the brother of Muhammad Khan Bhatti, a Punjab Assembly employee said to be an aide of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

The FIA claimed that the mill was set up ostensibly by laundering funds from unexplained sources including proceeds of financial crimes. In 2010, Nawaz had 31 per cent shares while Mazhar Abbas had 35 per cent shares. The mill's capital increased by Rs720 million in 2008, but the source for these funds as well as those required for the acquisition of land, import of plants and machinery and administrative expenses remained "unexplained", the FIA said.

Moreover, between 2011 and 2014, Nawaz and Mazhar, who held the majority of the mill's shares at the time, disposed of their shares, but this transaction also remained unexplained. The FIA said that the bank record was examined that revealed that Nawaz and Mazhar were signatories in multiple bank accounts with a turnover of Rs24 billion.

The FIR stated that the shares of Nawaz and Mazhar after passing through intermediaries were acquired by the Cascade Tek Pvt Ltd and the Axe Capital. Moreover, 9.5 per cent shares were acquired by Wajih Ahmed Khan Bhatti, who is a nephew of Muhammad Khan Bhatti.

The FIA claimed that both these SPVs were controlled by Moonis Elahi (one directly and the other indirectly through his family members). This makes it clear that accused Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Abbas lent their identities and acted on behalf of Moonis Elahi to disguise the origin and nature of ill-gotten funds/proceeds used to set up the RYK Mills Ltd.

The FIA said that the records revealed that Makhdum Omar Shehryar (executive director of the-then proposed RYK Mills Ltd) applied for issuance of a no objection certificate for setting up the sugar mill through an application to the secretary Industries, Punjab, on June 25, 2007, which was accordingly given by the Ministry of Industries Punjab and the CM Punjab in quick succession. The FIA stated that Pervaiz Elahi was the Punjab chief minister at that time and his culpability would be determined during investigations.

Moreover, it added that Shehryar and his brother-in-law Tarik Jawaid collectively held 30.59 per cent shares of the mill as of 2020, and "the origin and nature of their investment of ill-gotten funds/proceeds was also unexplained". It said the inquiry substantiated that Moonis, Bhatti, Mazhar, Shehryar, Jawaid, Wajih and Muhammad Khan Bhatti were involved in money laundering.

The FIA has registered the FIR against the accused under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), 109 (punishment for abetment), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a genuine forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 and Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.

Meanwhile, Moonis moved the Special Court Central, seeking pre-arrest bail. The court returned the bail petition, directing him to contact the relevant forum.

Meanwhile, Moonis appeared in the FIA office on Wednesday. Talking to the media, he said if the FIA wanted to arrest him, they should do it with enthusiasm. He had come to their office himself. He said: “When we decided to go with the PTI, we knew that the Sharifs would do such things. I have faced such revengeful actions before. We knew the true nature of the Sharifs, so we did not succumb to any temptation. Rana Sanaullah, do whatever you can. I stand by Imran Khan and will stay. We are in alliance with Imran Khan, now I am ready to face retaliatory actions.”

Moonis said all his assets were declared. No notice or contact was made by the FIA before the case was registered. Replying to a question, he said Rana Sanaullah did not see the Rs16 billion corruption of Shehbaz Sharif and his sons. According to merit, first of all these father and sons should be in jail. “Rana Sanaullah had come to our house with the offer of chief ministership that we turned down. Now revengeful actions are being taken against me. Sanaullah told me that they were afraid of Imran Khan. Rana Sanaullah was mistreated by making a drug case against him. If there was a case of murder or tampering, I could accept that.”