SC orders to shift Anwar Majeed to PIMS, AG Majeed, Hussain Lawai to Adiala Jail

LAHORE: Chief Justice Saqib Nisar ordered the authorities to shift Omni Group head Anwar Majeed from Karachi’s NICVD to PIMS Hospital in Islamabad.

During a hearing on Saturday at the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry, the chief justice asked if the Joint Investigation Team formed to investigate the money laundering scam in which Anwar has been arrested has completed its investigation. The JIT member present during the hearing replied that they haven’t been given access to the suspects.

To this, the chief justice expressed displeasure and ordered that Anwar be shifted to PIMS Hospital Islamabad via air ambulance. He also ordered the authorities to move two other suspects in the case, Anwar’s son AG Majeed and former Summit Bank chairperson Hussain Lawai, to the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

All three are currently incarcerated on charges in the money laundering case involving Rs35 billion allegedly funneled through fake accounts at three local banks.

When Anwar’s wife appealed to the chief justice that her husband is ill and requested that he be allowed to remain in Karachi, Justice Nisar asked her to come along to Islamabad and look after him.

When they are at PIMS and Adiala, they will be closer to me and the SC, said the top judge, adding that it will have a positive impact on the progress of the case as well.

They are influential people and the investigation is not possible in Karachi, he added. The court also ordered JIT to complete their investigation and submit a report within 10 days.

Justice Nisar also asked whether the Omni Group and four banks — Summit Bank, Silk Bank, Sindh Bank and National Bank — have reached a consensus on how the group would return the money it owes them. The banks’ representatives said that the Omni Group has provided an evaluation of the properties it put up as collateral for the loans it took. The court ordered an independent evaluation of the properties within 10 days.