Supreme Court forms team to probe mega corruption case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan set up a six-member joint investigation team (JIT) on Thursday to probe a mega corruption scandal allegedly involving former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and their associates.
The JIT was constituted on the request of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is currently probing fake bank accounts which were allegedly used to launder billions of rupees.
FIA officials suspect that the former president and his sister, among others, benefited from transactions made using these bank accounts.
This is the second JIT of its kind in Pakistan to probe top politicians for money laundering and embezzlement. The first one was formed to probe former premier Nawaz Sharif and his family for making assets beyond their stated means of income.
Sharif is now serving a 10-year prison sentence along with his daughter, Maryam, and son-in-law, Captain Safdar.
The Supreme Court’s decision to form the JIT, headed by Assistant Director-General Ehsan Sadiq, is likely to have political repercussions in the coming weeks and months, as Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party is the third largest political party in the National Assembly and is also in power in the province of Sindh.