The Sindh High Court on Tuesday restrained the Federal Investigation Agency from taking any coercive action against the Karachi Cotton Association and its members with regard to an anti-money laundering inquiry.
The court however directed the FIA to proceed with the matter in accordance with the law. The direction came on petitions of the Karachi Cotton Association and other tenants of the cotton exchange building that challenged the FIA inquiry and notice to several banks, seeking details of the petitioners assets, bank accounts and other details on pretext of the inquiry.
The FIA had sent a notice to all compliance heads and commercial banks, seeking assistance to provide details of assets and banks accounts of the petitioners under the anti-money laundering law. According to the FIA notice, certain officials of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and Karachi Cotton Association were involved in illegal occupation of the evacuee trust property building commonly known as Cotton Exchange Building on II Chundrighr Road by preparing fake ownership and tenancy agreements and caused a loss to the national exchequer of Rs15,943,170,000.
The petitioners counsel submitted that the FIA inquiry and impugned notices were illegal as petitioners were lawful tenants of the cotton exchange building. They submitted that the court had earlier reserved its order on petitioners’ petition against illegal sealing, eviction notices to them and also restrained the FIA from removing the petitioners from their premises.
They submitted that the impugned noticed to heads of the banks were issued for carrying out a fishing and roving inquiry and to threaten and harass the petitioners and tenants so that they back off and handed over their business premises to the respondents. They said the FIA has adopted further illegal methods to circumvent the judicial process and cause harassment to the petitioners and abuse their authority.
They requested the court to quash the FIA inquiry and impugned notices and restrained the FIA from taking any coercive action against the petitioners.
An SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Adnan-Ul-Karim Memon, after preliminary hearing of the petitions. issued notices to the FIA and others and called their comments. The court in the meantime restrained the FIA from taking any coercive action against the petitioners in respect of the impugned notices and ordered proceeding with the inquiry in accordance with the law.
