Government authorities claim to have uncovered a financial scam in the banking sector involving the Chairman of BankIslami, Ali Hussain.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Anti-Benami Initiative (ABI) Zone-III, Karachi, has filed a reference to the Adjudicating Authority under Section 22 of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017, against him.
Top FBR officials confirmed to ProPakistani that the Adjudicating Authority, under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017, at the FBR Headquarters had received this reference from the Anti Benami Zone-III, Karachi.
According to the documents available with ProPakistani, the benamidar (other persons) had purchased the shares of BankIslami by showing that he had taken a loan from an offshore company belonging to the beneficial owner in 2014 and 2015. In 2020, the same shares were transferred to the beneficial owner (Hussain) without an arm’s length transaction.
Note that Hussian is also the Managing Director of the SAJ Capital Management Ltd. and the Sajjad Foundation.
The shares of the bank, that are worth Rs. 380 million, have been attached/blocked in accordance with the law, and a reference has been submitted to the Adjudicating Authority that will adjudicate to confirm (or otherwise) the attachment of the shares, and hereinafter, the same will be confiscated by the government.
Therefore, the government has blocked 40 million shares of Chairman Hussain, who had purchased them without declaring possession of them.
ProPakistani has reached out to BankIslami’s management but it has not responded despite repeated requests. Its point of view will be updated upon reception.
The case has badly dented BankIslami’s reputation again. It had suffered a cyberattack in 2018 that had resulted in a loss of a whopping Rs. 2.6 million. In the ensuing years, it managed to recover from the losses, and projected a handsome profit of Rs. 1.7 billion in 2020.
