ISLAMABAD: Director General Sanaullah Abbasi said the agency has arrested 158 people and seized from their possession local and foreign currencies worth Rs300 million across the country in an attempt to curb manipulation of dollar-rupee exchange rate.
Abbasi said the crackdown on those involved in illegal currency business was launched against amid reports that dollar was being hoarded and smuggled out of the country.
He said the FIA acted upon information shared by intelligence agencies, the State Bank of Pakistan and its own field formations. DG FIA said the agency only deals with the black marking of foreign currencies, its smuggling and hoarding.
DG FIA Abbasi has divided the FIA’s campaign against currency market’s manipulators into two phases. The first phase, from Aug 25 to Nov 30, began soon after the change of regime in Afghanistan. During this period he said, “FIA registered 92 FIRs, conducted 40 inquiries, arrested 107 persons, sealed 21 shops and recovered Rs365m, including foreign currency worth Rs156m.”
In the second phase, from Dec 1 till date, the FIA registered 117 FIRs, conducted 32 inquiries, arrested 158 persons, sealed nine shops and seized Rs300m, including foreign currency worth Rs88m.
The FIA chief said the total amount of money seized during this year stood at Rs1.3 billion. He also said more than 10,000 transactions were scrutinised and the federal government had directed the FIA to look into operations of foreign exchange companies.“FIA conducted inspection of their sale-purchase record and examined five A category and 29 B category forex companies. More than 10,000 transactions of sale and purchase by these companies were scrutinised. After detecting some irregularities, seven FIRs were registered and 11 inquiries conducted against B category forex firms,” he said.
During the current year, the FIA scrutinised suspicious transactions in bulk after receiving information about them through the Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs). He further said after conducting inquiries in these multilayered complex financial transactions, 156 FIRs were registered since
