Pakistan to monitor money laundering by seminaries

Pakistan is planning to block money laundering by madrassas, banned religious organisations and non-governmental organisations, which allegedly used funds channelled from abroad for jehad.

At the centre of the investigations are funds collected by these organizations by way of selling hides of sacrificial animals, which provide legal cover to their revenue. Intelligence agencies have found strong links between this method of money laundering and banned religious outfits.

The Daily Times quoted an unnamed interior ministry official as saying that intelligence sources had found out that these bodies were collecting hides to provide legal cover to un-auditable funds being channelled from abroad for alleged terrorist activities.

The investigation aims at blocking the illegal funding to banned jehadi organisations and seminaries, the official added.

According to the report, several madrassas and banned outfits had collected a small number of hides, but had over-projected their collections in the media.

The official said that various banned militant groups had received foreign funds before Eid-ul-Zuha earlier this month, when animals were sacrificed in large numbers, and were now using the hides to legalise this money.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry has directed the federal and provincial Waqf departments to enforce the ban on collection of funds being defied by registered mosques and seminaries, particularly on Fridays.

The ban would be according to the directives given by President Pervez Musharraf at a meeting last week.

Intelligence agencies are also monitoring the bank accounts of mosques, NGOs and seminaries to determine whether they had any links with terrorist networks.

The federal and provincial Waqf departments have also been directed to gather the record of registered and unregistered mosques that had encroached on private land. If proved, the illegal portion of the madrassa or mosque would be demolished.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/pakistan/Pakistan-to-monitor-money-laundering-by-seminaries_12028.shtml