By Abeer Rehman 
A Pakistani trader is facing investigation for money laundering millions of rupees using cryptocurrency. The trader, who was identified as Danyal Farooq, was operating innumerous bank accounts with more than Rs. 870 million. This is the first ever case of cryptocurrency money laundering that is being investigated by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Farooq was recently arrested after an FIR was lodged against him for operating several bank accounts with huge transactions. Reports suggest that in the last three years, he was found operating bank accounts with more than Rs. 870 million. Out of these, 437 million were credit and the remaining 436 million were debit transactions.
During the investigation, Farooq revealed to FIA that he was just performing “general order supply” on demand of different retailers.
Reports suggest that Danyal Farooq was also involved in an exchange business. Hence, a huge number of transactions were performed from his accounts. His clients used to deposit Pakistani rupees in his account and would get cryptocurrency in return. His exchange business was not registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), cryptocurrencies are banned in Pakistan. Authorities at FIA claim that considering this, all the transactions performed by Farooq seem suspicious. Deputy Director of Commercial Banking Circle – FIA , Afzal Khan said that Farooq was involved in money laundering using cryptocurrencies.
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