Waqar Zaka denies cryptocurrency scam allegations.
After a Karachi court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for him in the Rs173 million cryptocurrency scandal case, Waqar Zaka, a television host and social media activist, denied charges that he was involved in a cryptocurrency scam on Friday.
The warrant was issued earlier today while a court magistrate was hearing the case brought by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) based on a report from the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU).
The warrants were obtained because Zaka, who advocates for Pakistan to recognise virtual currencies as legal cash, did not show up in court.
The FIA said that during the last three years the aggregated credits of Rs86.1 million and debt of Rs87.1 million were observed in his bank account, adding that several transactions were made from foreign countries.
Zaka told the media that his whole wealth was declared with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), adding that the FIA Cyber Crime was trying to prove that money brought to Pakistan through the legal channel was wrong.
When a person commits money laundering, does he use banking channels to bring his money to Pakistan? He questioned.
He said the amount was transferred to his account through foreign remittance via the banking channel.
While still in the US, Zaka made the announcement that he will pursue a defamation lawsuit against all digital sites, including Dawn, for spreading false information about him.
“Filing defamation against all digital platforms posting fake news against me, especially @dawn_com. This time I will make sure that any social media news platform posting incorrect news should be punished,” he wrote on Twitter.
