FIA traces Rs690m in suspect transfers in Rs120bn online gambling case

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) says its inquiry into an alleged Rs120 billion online gambling and illegal money-transfer network has reached a “crucial phase”. The News, which first published reports on the matter together with Daily Jang, said on Wednesday that investigators have traced suspicious bank transactions worth nearly Rs690 million and identified new middlemen, third-party accounts and possible overseas settlement routes. Everything below is an allegation made in the FIA’s progress report and by its officials; nobody has been convicted.

What the FIA says it has found

The case is registered as FIR No. 32/2026 and is being handled by the FIA Composite Circle in Faisalabad. FIA Director General Dr Usman Anwar told The News that he is personally reviewing progress every day. A spokesperson for the Faisalabad zone, Faryal Khan, said the investigation was moving quickly but that the money trail is exceptionally complex, and that more arrests are expected as evidence comes in.

According to the progress report seen by The News, investigators believe the network worked like this:

1. Shell structures. Several single member companies (SMCs) were set up to obtain corporate branchless banking accounts. Corporate accounts are not subject to the daily deposit limits that apply to individuals, so they could take in far larger sums.
2. Collection. Those accounts allegedly gathered large amounts from people playing online gambling games.
3. Mismatch. The FIA has obtained company records from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), account-opening forms and transaction histories. It says there were large gaps between the businesses the companies declared and what actually went through their accounts.
4. Settlement. Investigators are trying to trace where the money finally went, including overseas.

Banks in the frame

The agency has examined records tied to a digital payment platform run by a local mobile phone company, a local microfinance bank and a private bank in Pakistan linked to a Bahrain-based financial group. The report does not name them in the account we have. The FIR now names officials of the microfinance bank and the private bank, based on the evidence gathered so far, and the agency is examining how the corporate accounts were opened and whether staff assisted.

Several people who paid money into the collection accounts have given statements under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, saying the deposits were for taking part in online gambling games. The FIA says that part of the paperwork is almost finished, while scrutiny of more digital payment and bank accounts continues.

The two principal suspects

The agency says it has substantially traced transactions between two principal accused, Muhammad Zeeshan and Waqar Rashid Khan. It puts the amount sent from accounts linked to Mr Zeeshan to accounts of Mr Khan at roughly Rs35 million, and says it has collected the documents. We have not seen a response from either man.

Item	Detail from the FIA’s report
Alleged size of the scheme	Rs120 billion
Suspicious transactions traced so far	About Rs690 million
Transfers between the two principal accused	About Rs35 million
Institutions examined	A mobile phone company’s payment platform, a microfinance bank, a private bank
Status	Bank officials nominated in the FIR; further arrests expected

Why it matters

Online gambling is illegal in Pakistan, but it can be hard to police because the money moves through ordinary bank and mobile wallet channels. The FIA has also been active in other financial and cyber cases, such as the NCCIA remand cases we have reported, and the agency says this probe is a priority. If the FIA’s account is correct, the case shows how companies that look legitimate on paper can be used to move large sums and how weak checks at the point of account opening can be abused. For ordinary account holders, the lesson is that banks and payment companies are under pressure to check who is behind corporate accounts and what the money is for.

The Rs120 billion figure is an estimate of the alleged scale, not a total proven in court, and only Rs690 million has so far been traced in the report.

What we do not know

• The names of the banks and the payment platform involved.
• How many people have been arrested and what the charges are.
• Whether the overseas beneficiaries have been identified.
• What the regulators, the SECP and the State Bank, are doing about the companies and accounts involved.

What to watch is further arrests, the first court appearances of the nominated bank officials, and any action by the SECP and the State Bank on the accounts and companies concerned.