KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan has advised Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to initiate an immediate crackdown throughout the country against all the operations of hundi/hawala (illegal modes of money transfer).
The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Prime Minister on money laundering. FIA would submit a comprehensive report in this regard on November 24, 2018.
Additional Director Anti-Corruption Wing, FIA has issued directives It is also directed that all the field units may be immediately sensitized regarding the instructions received from PM office and directed to ensure its compliance in true letter and spirit.
It is further directed that at least five raids be ensured by each zone on daily basis. Raiding parties may also be directed to focus on seizing the laptops, mobile phone and computers during the raid so that further information, details of their business/rackets involved in the flight of capital and siphoning of money out of Pakistan could be retrieved from this equipment through forensic audit.
It has been noticed that the raiding team, instead of focusing the real culprits, usually arrest their employees and finalize their investigation. Special instructions are issued to them to focus on the arrest of real owners of the business.
The accused arrested should be thoroughly interrogated and their modus operandi for the outward transfer of money should be determined so that future strategy to combat the menace could be devised.