The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Zone has launched an investigation into the province’s first money laundering case via cryptocurrency.
The reports reveal that the accused, Danyal Farooq, from the Nowshera district, was taken into custody by the FIA last night after an FIR was registered against him for massive transactions.
According to the FIR, the money launderer operated many bank accounts, which had more than Rs. 870 million in transactions during the last three years, including Rs. 437 million in credit transactions and roughly Rs. 436 million in debit transactions.
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As quoted by Dawn, FIA had summoned Daniyal Farooq for investigation, and at that time, he had informed it that he was merely performing “general order supply” to different retailers.
Reportedly, people used to deposit Pakistani rupees into the suspect’s bank accounts and he used to give them cryptocurrency in exchange. However, FIA confirmed that his money exchange business was not registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
In this regard, FIA officials stated that cryptocurrency is prohibited in Pakistan as per the orders of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and all transactions done by the suspect were unregulated, unlawful, and similar to illegal shadow banking.
FIA’s Deputy Director of Commercial Banking Circle, Afzal Khan, remarked that it has been revealed that the accused laundered money under the guise of cryptocurrency.
