KARACHI: A cart vendor selling falooda in streets of Karachi on Saturday found that he has more than Rs2billion in a bank account in his name, ARY News reported.
Abdul Qadir, who lives in a small house in an impoverished neighbourhood in Karachi’s Orangi Town area, never knew he had a bank account in his name, doesn’t know how to open a bank account and had no knowledge of the huge amount of money deposited in an account in his name.
“I don’t know who opened this bank account in my name before FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) summoned me and told me that I have Rs2.25billion in a bank account in my name, I told them I don’t even know who signed those documents in my name as I don’t even know English,” said Abdul Qadir.
The poor cart vendor says he once worked on a public call office and the owner of the PCO demanded him to submit his National Identity Card (NIC). “I suspect they may have used it to open the bank account,” said Abdul Qadir.
With police security around his house, the cart vendor also told media that FIA officials interviewed him once and recorded a video of his house as evidence.
An FIA JIT had been investigating a 2015 case regarding fake accounts and fictitious transactions conducted through 29 ‘benami’ accounts in a number of private banks.
Seven individuals, including PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, were said to be involved in using those accounts for suspicious transactions. The accounts were allegedly used to channel funds received through kickbacks.
