ISLAMABAD: Model Ayyan Ali accused the government on Monday of amending the schedule to Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, on April 1, 2015, with mala fide intent to encompass specific provisions of the Customs Act in the law.

Ayyan Ali was caught at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, while trying to travel abroad with foreign currency worth $506,800.

In a fresh rejoinder to rebut contentions raised by the interior ministry before the Supreme Court, the model through her counsel Latif Khosa alleged that the Exit Control List policy was also notified by the government on Sept 16 last year by introducing parameters for placement of her name on the ECL which included money laundering.

Moreover the application to investigate the offence of money laundering was moved by the government though effectively replied by the model that only the money as proceeds of crime fell within the mischief of the anti-money laundering act. But since this was not the case, the prosecutor had been seeking adjournments to make it pending and keep the sword of Damocles hanging.

Finally, the special judge, customs, after hearing parties at length dismissed the application being devoid of legal force on March 30, 2016, the rejoinder emphasised.

After so much trumpeting and immensely stigmatising the model she stands completely exonerated from the charge of money laundering, the statement said.

Referring to the fresh petition moved against her on behalf of the interior ministry, the model regretted that the malice of the government was further fortified by the fact that the present petition had been filed in the light of an earlier concise statement of Ayyan Ali in which she had taken strong exception to the petition moved by the collector of customs, Islamabad, as the government.

In the concise statement, the model had argued that the customs department cannot be called as the federation of Pakistan which has been categorised in Part iii, Chapter I, of the Constitution where the customs department figures nowhere in the hierarchy stipulated.

Under Article 174 of the Constitution the collector of customs being a civil servant within the service of Pakistan cannot pose as the federation of Pakistan, the model had emphasised.

Therefore, the petition moved by the interior ministry should be dismissed with cost, the rejoinder said, reiterating that Ms Ali’s fundamental rights were being ruthlessly violated and that the Sindh High Court by ordering to remove her name from the ECL on March 7, 2016, had rightly adjudged and vindicated her grievance by accepting her constitutional petition.

Mere pendency of a criminal case or proceedings are no ground for clog on travel / movement of a citizen and rightly so found by the SHC, she said.

She regretted that the bulk of her life’s earning has been seized and is with the customs department. Since she had given huge sureties for her release on bail and towards superdari of her passport, there is no question of her absconding, the reply argued.

She stated that she would suffer colossal financial loss if she does not fulfil her contractual obligation as it can be evidenced from the notice she has received from her manager who was representing worldwide interest regarding her work as artiste and model.

“Mr Barac Florinel-Eftimica has threatened to lodge a claim of $10 million if Ayyan Ali fails to show up in April 2016 in the United Arab Emirates for recording and photo sessions towards completion of her incomplete projects stuck up for one year,” the reply said.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2016