Auto rickshaw driver summoned over transactions worth Rs 300 crore

An auto rickshaw driver got the scare of his life when he received a call from Pakistan's top investigation agency which sought an explanation from him about a whopping Rs 300 crore worth of transactions made to his account.

The driver, identified as Muhammad Rasheed, who lives in Karachi came to know about the huge transactions in his account when the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) summoned him for an explanation.

"I got a call from the FIA office and they told me to show up for questioning. I was so scared as I didn't know what had happened," Rasheed said.

"When I went to the FIA office they showed me the record of my bank account," he said.

"The FIA officials told me that transactions of some 300 crore rupees were made through my salary bank account which I had opened back in 2005 when I was working for a private company as a driver," Rasheed said.

Rasheed said he had quit the job just after a month to start his own work.

"Three hundred crore rupees is a dream. I have never even seen one lakh rupees in my life," he lamented.

When asked about his former employer, Rasheed said he was unable to recall its name.

"My family and I live in a rented place. I work hard to make both ends meet. I can't even imagine such a huge amount. I suspect my salary account was being used for some other purposes," he said.

He said that he convinced the FIA officials about his present financial conditions.

Few days back a food vendor in Karachi's Orangi town also got the shock of his life when he found more than 200 crore rupees in his account.

The FIA is investigating large-scale money laundering cases after the Supreme Court appointed a Joint Investigation Unit (JIT) to probe into the matter.

The FIA is investigating several individual accounts, which have been used for money laundering by some influential businessmen and politicians.

In many cases dormant accounts of poor people have been activated with connivance of some bank officials for huge transactions.

The JIT has been probing since September into the money laundering cases revealing several suspicious accounts.

(With inputs from agencies.)