Pakistani ice-cream seller unaware of 14m in his bank account

Baku. 5 October. REPORT.AZ/ Pakistani ice-cream seller Muhammad Abdul Qadir who lives in a slum is facing meltdown after he learned that for more than a year he was the unwitting owner of a bank account containing 2.3bn rupees (£14m), Report informs citing The Guardian.

He used to make £3 ($4.6) per day selling falooda [an ice-cream topped desert]. He knew nothing about his wealth before officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) brought him in for questioning about the fortune last month as they investigated a massive money-laundering scam involving dozens of fake bank accounts.

Two years ago the State Bank of Pakistan informed the FIA about a suspicious transaction in Qadir’s supposed account, which was open between 2014 and 2015, when the untouched millions were withdrawn.

Qadir said he had no idea of the account and could not have signed the 2.3bn rupee transaction for one simple reason: he is unable to write.

The Federal Agency suspect that the account was used for money laundering.

The Agency is probing at least 77 bank accounts – typically created in the names of labourers, security guards and other down-at-heel citizens – thought to be part of a 35bn rupee (£220m) laundromat for dirty money that allegedly reaches up to former president Asif Ali Zardari.

“I am the most unlucky man in the world,” the 52-year-old said in a television interview. “When I came to know about [the huge sum], it was no longer there."

“People started taunting me by saying, ‘Look a billionaire is selling falooda [an ice-cream topped desert].’” His mother feared rumours of fabulous wealth might incite kidnappers and advised him to stay at home, he added to the Guardian, on the verge of tears.