Pakistan Forex Scam Case

In November 2008 Munaf Kalia (Chief Executive Officer of Khanani and Kalia International (Pvt.) Ltd.), Yusuf Kalia, and associates, were charged for illegally transferring funds from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Background

Since the depreciation of the rupee from July 2007, the Federal Investigation Agency was investigating the unexpected depreciation by the orders of the Pakistani government. In November 2008, the government sought support from Interpol with whose help the FIA cracked down all over Pakistan searching for persons involved in illegal smuggling of US dollars outside Pakistan.The FIA conducted raids in various parts of Karachi detained more than 12 people including Munaf Kalia, and ten officials of the National Database Registration Authority suspected of providing counterfeit identity cards. Manaf Kalia appeared in the court of Omar Awan, judicial magistrate South Karachi on November 9, 2008. The FIA sought and obtained a remand to Lahore to face another charge.

Exit control list

The Special Civil Court of Lahore, ordered that more than 14 names of different people involved in the forex scam case be included in the ECL (Exit Control List) of Pakistan.

Time Line

On November 10, 2008, the State Bank of Pakistan suspended the licence of Khanani and Kalia for 30 days and debarred KKI’s head office, branches, franchises payment booths and currency exchange booths from undertaking any kind of business for violating its rules and regulations.

On December 10, 2008, the State Bank of Pakistan suspended the licence of Khanani and Kalia for an indefinite period of time. The suspension order further stated that the company's headquarter, branch offices and/or franchise cannot carry any business dealings.

Hawala business

The government’s action against Hawala trade, which involves international network of currency dealers for making unrecorded payments in each other’s countries, was one step in the series of the forex scam case. These steps were taken at a time when the rupee depreciated by 30 percent against the dollar since the beginning of 2008.