Fake bank accounts in top Pakistani parliamentarians' names

Some top members of Pakistan's Parliament have complained to the police that fake bank accounts have been opened in their names and that transactions worth millions have been made, a media report said on Thursday.

The parliamentarians include National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah, Leader of Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan and Kashmir Com­mittee Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Dawn news reported.

According to a statement issued by the NA Secretariat, Speaker Sadiq has ordered the State Bank of Pakistan Governor and the Federal Investigation Agency Director General to investigate the matter after he received a fake bank receipt of a fixed deposit account that he did not operate.

The statement also claimed that the Speaker did not possess any bank account in the city or the bank mentioned on the transactions receipt.

Chairman Raza Rabbani informed the Senate during proceedings on Wednesday that he had received a receipt from the SME Bank in the mail at his Karachi residence, according to which an amount of 100 million Pakistani rupees had been deposited into this account.

He said he had written to the President of the bank, pointing out that he had never operated an account there and hence the question of a transaction did not arise.

Abid Qamar, a spokesperson for the State Bank of Pakistan, told Dawn news that they had received information from Parliament regarding the fake bank accounts, and added that the central bank would investigate the matter to ascertain how the accounts were opened.

--IANS

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