NAB files third reference in fake accounts case

RAWALPINDI (92 News) – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday filed a reference in the fake accounts case. The Pink Residency reference has been filed in an accountability court in Rawalpindi. Sources said that Malik Riaz’s son Ali Malik and son-in-law Zain Malik had been nominated in the reference. Meanwhile, Aftab Ahmed Memon, Secretary Land Utilisation Department of the Sindh Board of Revenue and a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari who is under NAB custody for illegally allotting government land in favour of Pink Residency, Omni Group’s Abdul Ghani Majeed and others have also been nominated in the reference. The NAB has also been probing Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for corruption, money laundering, and misuse of authority. The Federal Investigation Agency is probing 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including Zardari and Talpur. Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July last year in connection with the probe. The former president’s other close aide and Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed a close aide and Omni Group chairman and his son, Abdul Ghani, were arrested by FIA in August 2018. Over 20 ‘benami’ accounts at some private banks were opened in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from where transactions worth billions of rupees were made, according to sources. The amount is said to be black money gathered from various kickbacks, commissions and bribes.