For the second time in a week, an anti-corruption court in Pakistan on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a money laundering case against former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur till August 7.
The accountability court in Islamabad conducted the hearing of the fake accounts and mega-money laundering case against 64-year-old Zardari and his 62-year-old sister Talpur. After the hearing, the judge adjourned the case till August 7 and directed all accused to be present on the next hearing, when the court is expected to indict Zardari and Talpur.
On Friday last week, the accountability court deferred Zardari and Talpur's indictment in the money laundering case. The proceedings could not be held as judge Azam Khan was not available for the hearing. The scandal surfaced in October 2015 when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Karachi received reports about fake intra-bank transactions in several banks.
According to the FIA, the fake accounts were being run by the Zardari Group and Omni Group, and some other others. The case made little progress until 2018 when a probe ordered by the Supreme Court concluded that 32 fake bank accounts were being operated by 11 fake entities to launder money from "kickbacks, land grabbing and large scale misappropriation of public funds".
Zardari and Talpur were arrested last year and kept in custody for months before being released on bail in December. They have rejected the charges as fabricated and politically motivated.
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