November 12, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: Another seven foreign currency dealers are being investigated for illegally transferring money abroad, according to Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik.

Making a statement in the Senate, he said nobody could be allowed to run a parallel banking system and harm the economy.

He assured senators that no action would be taken without substantial evidence. He said the outflow of dollars had been going on for a long time and a large number of people were involved in it.

“Investigations are under way and more people may be arrested.” He said those arrested so far were accused of committing a cognizable crime. Till last week, the crime was under the purview of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), but now it has been brought under the jurisdiction of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

He said he had received information a month ago that currency worth Rs10 million was being sold for Rs11 million, which prompted him to investigate.

He said a great deal of movement of currency from Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi was detected. The first transaction that the authorities had intercepted was worth $32 million and then another transaction of Rs160 million.

He said he was told that there was no restriction on inland transfer of money. “We were unable to lay hands on people who were transferring the money under the cover of legal sanction.”

He said he was told that the Hawala and Hundi system was so powerful that he would not be able to touch it and he was warned that he would have to reverse his actions because these were highly influential people. However, he added, his party’s leadership had asked him to go ahead.

He said the cyber crimes wing of the FIA had been asked to investigate the matter and subsequently a website was found which was virtually doing internet banking.