MQM chief's bail extended in money laundering case

The London Metropolitan Police have extended Altaf Hussain's bail, the chief of Pakistan's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, by three months in a money laundering probe.

MQM leaders in London and Karachi said no charge was filed against Hussain, who appeared before investigators at a London police station on Tuesday, the Dawn reported on Wednesday.

Police "interviewed" Hussain for a second time in connection with the case. They questioned the MQM leader for over five hours on Tuesday in the presence of his lawyers.

An MQM spokesman stated that the police extended Hussain's bail till mid-July.

Later, talking to the media at the MQM international secretariat in London, Hussain rejected all allegations of money laundering against him and said he had complete faith in the British judicial system.

In June last year, the MQM chief, who has been living in London for over two decades, was arrested over money laundering suspicions.

He was hospitalised with illness and after undergoing several tests, he was quizzed by the British investigators for nine hours. Later, he was granted bail till December, which was subsequently extended till April.