Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, following his meeting with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday, said that providing records to a joint investigation team (JIT) probing a fake bank accounts case was not his responsibility.
Earlier this week, Ahsan Sadiq, the head of a JIT tasked with probing a case in which Rs54 billion were allegedly transferred through 107 fake bank accounts, had told the SC that information being provided by the Sindh government to them was piecemeal and not complete.
On Friday, the CJP had issued instructions for Shah to meet him in his chambers despite being told that the Sindh government was now cooperating with the JIT.
CM Shah, following his meeting with Justice Nisar at the Supreme Court Karachi registry today, said that he had told the top judge that “providing information [to the JIT] was the job of relevant institutions, and not the chief minister’s”.
The chief minister assured the media that his meeting with the chief justice took place in a “pleasant environment”. He added that the media had misreported the CJP’s remarks, as the latter told him that he had merely expressed a desire to meet the CM, not issued orders.
CM Shah said that the fake accounts case was discussed in the meeting, but he can’t disclose the details.
The chief minister further said that the JIT had given the government two days to provide the records required for investigation, which he said were not enough.
“There is no centralised [system] where you can just press a button and get all the records,” he added.
Fake bank accounts case
An FIA JIT had been investigating a 2015 case regarding fake accounts and fictitious transactions conducted through ‘benami’ accounts in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and UBL.
Seven individuals, including former president Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, were said to be involved in using those accounts for suspicious transactions. The accounts were allegedly used to channel funds received through kickbacks.
While hearing a suo motu case regarding a delay in the FIA probe into the case, the SC had constituted a JIT to probe into the matter.
