Pakistan: MQM leader arrested over money laundering case

Former Pakistan Minister and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Babar Khan Ghauri was arrested by Karachi police on Monday night at Jinnah International Airport, in relation to a money laundering and terror financing case.

According to the Dawn newspaper, a senior official confirmed the arrest of Ghauri, who returned to Pakistan after ending his seven-year exile in the United States, however, the official did not share the details of the move by the law enforcement agency.

“Situation would be clear by Tuesday when the former key man of the MQM would be produced before the court,” said the official.

The former ports and shipping minister was granted a two-week protective bail in a corruption reference and a money laundering and terror financing case.

Ghauri announced his return to Pakistan following the orders of the Sindh High Court but did not reveal the details of his future plans in the country, the Dawn reported.

Last month, the minister had through his attorney moved the SHC and submitted that he was presently abroad and willing to come back and surrender before trial courts.

The federal minister along with the founder of MQM, Altaf Hussain and other leaders of the party were booked by the Federal Investigation Agency in 2017 in a money laundering and terror financing case, the Dawn reported.

The National Accounta!bility Bureau had also filed a reference in an accountability court in 2018 against him and others for alleged illegal regularisation of 940 employees of the Karachi Port Trust, causing a loss of Rs 2.8 billion to the national exchequer.

In October 2019, judicial and prosecution officials said the court had declared Babar Ghauri a proclaimed offender after the investigation officer in the case had submitted a report stating that there was no likelihood of arrest of the former minister in the near future since he had probably gone into hiding to avoid arrest, the Dawn reported.

Sources said that the former Minister Babar Khan Ghauri, who served as Minister for Ports and Shipping Pakistan in former Prime Ministers of Pakistan Yousaf Raza Gillani and Shaukat Aziz’s tenure was residing in Dubai for past months before he scheduled his return to Pakistan. (ANI)