KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered several cases against Altaf Hussain, the proscribed leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), charging him and his party of money laundering, illegal foreign funding and terrorism acts under Pakistani law.
The cases were registered on the complaint of Sarfraz Anwar Merchant, a London-based Pakistani and old aide of Hussain, who seems to have turned on him after he was grilled by the London Metropolitan Police in 2013 on similar charges.
London police had dropped the charges of money laundering against Hussain after a prolonged investigation that probed his dealings as well as several of his confidants’ in London, including Merchant. However, Merchant has now taken up part of the charges levied against MQM, which is registered in Pakistan under the Election Commission.
The complainant writes in his letter that with a view to find out the truth and to analyse facts, he had probed into MQM activities after being arrested and turning into a victim of circumstance
On the basis of the fact that MQM is registered in Pakistan, the FIA complaint said, the party was bound to abide by the relevant laws of Election Commission of Pakistan (EC).
The law requires that the party makes a declaration of the sources of its funds that it receives whether in Pakistan or from abroad.
In this context, the FIA complaint said that cash seized in London was about £510,000 (Dh2.4 million). The investigation had disclosed that in 2006, a company named Euro Property Development Limited was set up in the UK. The major share holder was Hussain and the board of directors included Tariq Mir and Mohammad Anwar, as the company secretary. The Metropolitan Police document revealed that a false contract was shown in order to facilitate the transfer of £755,000 from a company in Dubai called Jasmine General Trading. The transfer took place between 2012 to 2013.
The Metropolitan Police suspected that the money represents proceeds of unlawful activity. They added a large part of money has since been transferred out of the country through a company called First 4 Bargains Ltd., a company owned by an Indian national
On the contrary, the complaint said MQM had not declared the source of funds whereas it was apparent from the investigation that the MQM was a foreign-funded party.
Merchant, who has drawn much of the contents of the documents of the Metro Police, claimed that the London police documents showed that Hussain managed to procure assault weapons worth $27,000 (Dh99,173). The weapons mentioned in the list seized by the Metro Police, he claimed, clearly showed that they were not regular weapons but the weapons of destruction.
