Javed Khanani, a director of Khanani and Kalia International money changers, committed suicide in Karachi on Sunday. According to SSP East Faisal Chacahar, Khanani fell from an under-construction building in Karachi.
Javed Khanani and Munaf Kalia were arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a dramatic raid in November 2008 when a complaint lodged against one of their franchises in Gujranwala led to the discovery of a parallel money transfer system being operated by their company — KKI — for purposes of transferring money out of the country through illegal hundi/hawala channels.
Their arrest sparked much commentary that their company was largely responsible for the massive flight of capital that took place from Pakistan in those days, putting serious pressure on the exchange rate and prompting an emergency appeal from the government to the International Monetary Fund.
Their company reportedly carried out 40 per cent of all money exchange transactions in the country at the time, according to the FIA officials connected with the investigation quoted on record in the days after the arrest.
Multiple cases were registered against them in Karachi, Lahore and Abbottabad, for running a hundi/hawala operation, among other affiliated charges.
In January 2015, Javed Khanani was charged again by the FIA in a fresh hundi/hawala transaction discovered after all the original cases against them were finished. He was held briefly in custody, along with his manager, before being released on bail.
Javed's brother, Altaf Khanani, pleaded guilty to money laundering charges before a United States court in November 2016 and was facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison plus a fine of $250,000.
