Devil Soul
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Ameen
Sarjeel Memon arrested and released
- Thread starter ghazi52
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Musafir117
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There are always deals NROs work with green signals from all insititutes The drama we watch on stage to make fool us.
Devil Soul
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He had pre arrest bail, which will expire on March 20, as per my sources, they planning to arrest him again,,,,Released.....................................
ghazi52
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Sharjeel Memon criticises NAB for only targeting Sindh lawmakers
The PPP leader says he has returned to Pakistan to face all the cases pending against him. -DawnNews screengrab
Former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, severely criticised the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for only targeting the lawmakers of Sindh.
Putting my name in the Exit Control List (ECL) was an attempt to frame me as no government institution informed me prior to its issuance and no investigation was initiated against me, said Memon.
"I was was never given a notice. I was never called [for an investigation]. There was no case, neither an FIR nor an inquiry," Memon said, adding he had approached the high court to find out why his name was put on the ECL.
Putting someone's name on the ECL without issuing any prior notice to them was an "extreme step", he maintained.
He thrashed NAB, accusing the anti-corruption watchdog of favouring certain government ministers over others.
"The Supreme Court had told NAB to put together a list of mega-[corruption] scams. When the list was presented, it contained the name of [Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif, [Finance Minister] Ishaq Dar and many other ministers from Punjab," Memon claimed.
"But once the list was presented before the court, were the names of those people placed on the ECL too?" Memon inquired.
"If the law is the same for everyone in this country, why weren't their names also included in the ECL [like his]?" he stressed.
Memon also accused the ministers and politicians of subjecting NAB to harsh criticism after the anti-corruption body released the list, claiming that NAB stopped conducting its investigations in Punjab following the harsh criticism.
"If I am found guilty, I will not seek any leniency in the punishment," he maintained.
Memon concluded his almost two years long self-imposed exile and returned to Pakistan on Saturday.
He was arrested at Islamabad airport and taken to NAB office, where he was later released after verification of his bail before arrest orders and written undertaking from his lawyer that he will comply with authorities orders.
The former provincial minister is facing several charges of monetary misappropriation and corruption.
The NAB chairman had filed a reference against Memon in connection with alleged misconduct in payments regarding advertising campaigns.
Memon rebuffed the accusations levelled against him, saying he had never "fled from the country".
The former minister claimed that the references on the charges of corruption were filed against him months after he had left the country over medical grounds.
The PPP leader says he has returned to Pakistan to face all the cases pending against him. -DawnNews screengrab
Former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, severely criticised the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for only targeting the lawmakers of Sindh.
Putting my name in the Exit Control List (ECL) was an attempt to frame me as no government institution informed me prior to its issuance and no investigation was initiated against me, said Memon.
"I was was never given a notice. I was never called [for an investigation]. There was no case, neither an FIR nor an inquiry," Memon said, adding he had approached the high court to find out why his name was put on the ECL.
Putting someone's name on the ECL without issuing any prior notice to them was an "extreme step", he maintained.
He thrashed NAB, accusing the anti-corruption watchdog of favouring certain government ministers over others.
"The Supreme Court had told NAB to put together a list of mega-[corruption] scams. When the list was presented, it contained the name of [Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif, [Finance Minister] Ishaq Dar and many other ministers from Punjab," Memon claimed.
"But once the list was presented before the court, were the names of those people placed on the ECL too?" Memon inquired.
"If the law is the same for everyone in this country, why weren't their names also included in the ECL [like his]?" he stressed.
Memon also accused the ministers and politicians of subjecting NAB to harsh criticism after the anti-corruption body released the list, claiming that NAB stopped conducting its investigations in Punjab following the harsh criticism.
"If I am found guilty, I will not seek any leniency in the punishment," he maintained.
Memon concluded his almost two years long self-imposed exile and returned to Pakistan on Saturday.
He was arrested at Islamabad airport and taken to NAB office, where he was later released after verification of his bail before arrest orders and written undertaking from his lawyer that he will comply with authorities orders.
The former provincial minister is facing several charges of monetary misappropriation and corruption.
The NAB chairman had filed a reference against Memon in connection with alleged misconduct in payments regarding advertising campaigns.
Memon rebuffed the accusations levelled against him, saying he had never "fled from the country".
The former minister claimed that the references on the charges of corruption were filed against him months after he had left the country over medical grounds.
ghazi52
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PM is gaining control
....................................................
Former religious affairs minister acquitted by Islamabad High Court
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday acquitted former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi in the Haj corruption case, DawnNews reported.
Former director general (DG) of Haj, Rao Shakeel, and former joint secretary religious affairs Aftabul Islam were also let off by the court.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, while hearing the case, accepted the accused's appeals and issued acquittal orders for Kazmi, Shakeel and Aftab.
Previously, Kazmi and Aftab had been sentenced to 16 years jail time each, while Rao Shakeel had been handed 40 years. The three convicts were also ordered to pay a penalty of Rs150 million each.
The Haj corruption scandal, which rocked the national political scene between 2010 and 2012, had led to the dismissal of both Kazmi and Azam Swati from the federal cabinet.
The minister and other religious affairs officials were accused of hiring a substandard building on exorbitant rent (for housing Pakistani pilgrims in Makkah) and receiving kickbacks in the process.
The former also spent nearly two years in prison over charges of irregularities in the 2009 Haj operation.
Kazmi was subsequently indicted on charges of corruption in the case on May 30, 2012, to which he pleaded not guilty.
....................................................
Former religious affairs minister acquitted by Islamabad High Court
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday acquitted former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi in the Haj corruption case, DawnNews reported.
Former director general (DG) of Haj, Rao Shakeel, and former joint secretary religious affairs Aftabul Islam were also let off by the court.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, while hearing the case, accepted the accused's appeals and issued acquittal orders for Kazmi, Shakeel and Aftab.
Previously, Kazmi and Aftab had been sentenced to 16 years jail time each, while Rao Shakeel had been handed 40 years. The three convicts were also ordered to pay a penalty of Rs150 million each.
The Haj corruption scandal, which rocked the national political scene between 2010 and 2012, had led to the dismissal of both Kazmi and Azam Swati from the federal cabinet.
The minister and other religious affairs officials were accused of hiring a substandard building on exorbitant rent (for housing Pakistani pilgrims in Makkah) and receiving kickbacks in the process.
The former also spent nearly two years in prison over charges of irregularities in the 2009 Haj operation.
Kazmi was subsequently indicted on charges of corruption in the case on May 30, 2012, to which he pleaded not guilty.
ghazi52
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Now this one......................
UK police returning seized money to Muttahida
OWEN BENNETT-JONES
LONDON: The UK police are in the process of transferring nearly half a million pounds to Altaf Hussain, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Karachi businessman Sarfraz Merchant.
The money was originally seized in the course of a money laundering investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit. The investigation was dropped last year after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to go ahead with a trial.
Having already had £24,000 transferred to his bank account, on Tuesday, Mr Merchant was handed around £5,000 worth of cash in the form of dirhams and Pakistani rupees. Two plain-clothes police officers gave him the money in a car park in West London as Mr Merchant sat in his £60,000 Range Rover.
“It is a success,” said Mr Merchant after getting the cash. “My money was legitimate.”
In the course of their investigation into the murder of 2010 senior MQM leader Imran Farooq, the UK police found £29,000 in Mr Merchant’s London apartment, £167,525.92 in the MQM’s offices in London and a further £289,785.32 in Altaf Hussain’s home. All those funds are now being returned.
Banking documents revealed that Mr Merchant had made substantial money transfers to the MQM. Mr Merchant told the police that money had been his own and was freely given to the MQM.
The return of the money to Mr Merchant and the MQM marks a humiliating climbdown for the UK police. Sources close to the police investigation always insisted that they would not return the MQM’s cash. Asset confiscations require a lower burden of proof than money laundering charges. But it turns out the UK authorities have been unable to meet even that lesser threshold.
The police said that during the course of their money laundering investigation six people had been arrested, 11 others were interviewed under caution and nine premises were searched. Despite all that work, the police said last year: “there is not a realistic prospect of a successful prosecution under UK law, therefore the investigation is now complete and no further action will be taken.”
Frustrated by the lack of progress in the UK, the Pakistan authorities last year formed a Joint Investigation Team to look at Mr Merchant’s claims of financial links between RAW and the MQM.
Mr Merchant said he still wanted to expose that issue. “I am going to pursue the issue regarding RAW funding because it is my country that is suffering,” he said. Mr Merchant said the documents given to him by the UK police showed there was such funding.
The MQM have denied being funded by RAW. India described claims that it funded the MQM or trained its militants as completely baseless.
UK-based lawyers say one of the reasons the money laundering case failed was the UK authorities’ reluctance to use terrorism legislation as opposed to the Proceeds of Crimes Act. Although the US describes the MQM as a Tier 3 terrorist organisation, neither the UK nor Pakistan has made a similar designation.
The Proceeds of Crimes act requires the UK authorities to prove the criminal provenance of the MQM’s funds. Since the UK authorities have no investigative powers in Karachi, it is difficult for them to establish whether there has been criminal activity there without the cooperation of the Pakistan authorities.
The MQM always maintained that its funds were legitimate and came in the form of donations from businessmen in the city.
At the time the money laundering investigation was dropped Mr Merchant said even his own lawyers were surprised by the decision. “While I am delighted to have been cleared there appears to have been political interference with the UK’s police investigation,” he said at the time.
Mr Merchant said he will now seek to recover the money he has spent on lawyers in the UK as he tried to defend his name. “I will go for action against the police,” he said, adding that his legal costs had been over £1 million.
The UK authorities are still investigating whether some speeches by Mr Hussain amount to hate speech. A previous hate speech inquiry was dropped in 2014 because of fears that the translation of the original Urdu speeches could be contested in the courts. The police are now assessing whether more recent speeches — not least the August 22 speech — contained not just hate speech but also incitement to violence.
Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017
UK police returning seized money to Muttahida
OWEN BENNETT-JONES
LONDON: The UK police are in the process of transferring nearly half a million pounds to Altaf Hussain, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Karachi businessman Sarfraz Merchant.
The money was originally seized in the course of a money laundering investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit. The investigation was dropped last year after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to go ahead with a trial.
Having already had £24,000 transferred to his bank account, on Tuesday, Mr Merchant was handed around £5,000 worth of cash in the form of dirhams and Pakistani rupees. Two plain-clothes police officers gave him the money in a car park in West London as Mr Merchant sat in his £60,000 Range Rover.
“It is a success,” said Mr Merchant after getting the cash. “My money was legitimate.”
In the course of their investigation into the murder of 2010 senior MQM leader Imran Farooq, the UK police found £29,000 in Mr Merchant’s London apartment, £167,525.92 in the MQM’s offices in London and a further £289,785.32 in Altaf Hussain’s home. All those funds are now being returned.
Banking documents revealed that Mr Merchant had made substantial money transfers to the MQM. Mr Merchant told the police that money had been his own and was freely given to the MQM.
The return of the money to Mr Merchant and the MQM marks a humiliating climbdown for the UK police. Sources close to the police investigation always insisted that they would not return the MQM’s cash. Asset confiscations require a lower burden of proof than money laundering charges. But it turns out the UK authorities have been unable to meet even that lesser threshold.
The police said that during the course of their money laundering investigation six people had been arrested, 11 others were interviewed under caution and nine premises were searched. Despite all that work, the police said last year: “there is not a realistic prospect of a successful prosecution under UK law, therefore the investigation is now complete and no further action will be taken.”
Frustrated by the lack of progress in the UK, the Pakistan authorities last year formed a Joint Investigation Team to look at Mr Merchant’s claims of financial links between RAW and the MQM.
Mr Merchant said he still wanted to expose that issue. “I am going to pursue the issue regarding RAW funding because it is my country that is suffering,” he said. Mr Merchant said the documents given to him by the UK police showed there was such funding.
The MQM have denied being funded by RAW. India described claims that it funded the MQM or trained its militants as completely baseless.
UK-based lawyers say one of the reasons the money laundering case failed was the UK authorities’ reluctance to use terrorism legislation as opposed to the Proceeds of Crimes Act. Although the US describes the MQM as a Tier 3 terrorist organisation, neither the UK nor Pakistan has made a similar designation.
The Proceeds of Crimes act requires the UK authorities to prove the criminal provenance of the MQM’s funds. Since the UK authorities have no investigative powers in Karachi, it is difficult for them to establish whether there has been criminal activity there without the cooperation of the Pakistan authorities.
The MQM always maintained that its funds were legitimate and came in the form of donations from businessmen in the city.
At the time the money laundering investigation was dropped Mr Merchant said even his own lawyers were surprised by the decision. “While I am delighted to have been cleared there appears to have been political interference with the UK’s police investigation,” he said at the time.
Mr Merchant said he will now seek to recover the money he has spent on lawyers in the UK as he tried to defend his name. “I will go for action against the police,” he said, adding that his legal costs had been over £1 million.
The UK authorities are still investigating whether some speeches by Mr Hussain amount to hate speech. A previous hate speech inquiry was dropped in 2014 because of fears that the translation of the original Urdu speeches could be contested in the courts. The police are now assessing whether more recent speeches — not least the August 22 speech — contained not just hate speech but also incitement to violence.
Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017
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