A local court in Karachi has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against a social media activist and cryptocurrency trader, Waqar Zaka, who is reported to be on the run in connection with suspicious Rs. 173 million cryptocurrency-related activities.
The development comes after the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) registered a case against Waqar Zaka in August 2020, for operating two bank accounts for cryptocurrency transactions.
Mukesh Kumar, Judicial Magistrate (East), heard the case against Waqar Zaka and ordered the FIA’s lawyer to submit a report on the issuing of an arrest warrant against the absconder on 5 January 2023, the next hearing date.
Speaking about the case, Assistant Director (AD) FIA, Shehryar Ahmed Khan, stated that the banks’ records from the last three years unveiled Zaka’s transactions worth more than Rs. 173 million, including credit transactions of Rs. 86.1 million and debit transactions of Rs. 87.1 million.
According to the FIA, Waqar Zaka collected charity via social media and international funding and received over Rs. 6.8 million, which were withdrawn through pay orders and inter-bank fund transfers (IBFT).
It further remarked that Waqar Zaka’s videos on social media prove that he is involved in having cryptocurrency assets and added that its initial investigation revealed that he openly promotes digital assets such as bitcoin, which are not recognized by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as legal.
Waqar Zaka Refutes FIA Allegations Against Him
Regarding the FIA issue, Waqar Zaka told ProPakistani that the FIA opened an investigation against him during PTI’s government because of his cryptocurrency Facebook group, for which he charges subscription fees.
He noted that FIA started this investigation against him on account of Rs. 10-20 million credit transactions to his bank accounts, which he charged from the Facebook group subscribers.
Furthermore, Waqar Zaka said that the media is also involved in misreporting his issue. The FIA had previously classified Zaka’s case as one of money laundering; however, a judge ordered the FIA to correct the challan. Following that, the FIA dropped the money laundering allegation and stated that huge transactions had been made to his accounts.
Moreover, he disputed the fact that the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) is the complainant in his case, which claims that Waqar Zaka’s accounts have received large sums of money. In this regard, he sarcastically remarked that hefty transactions are a crime in Pakistan.
Waqar try to remind your own show. Be brave and present yourself in front of authorities. Don’t hide like cowards.