US lawmaker seeks freezing of illegal funds of Pak-origin man accused of fraud

WASHINGTON: A US lawmaker has sought freezing of illicit funds of a Pakistani-American, who had unhindered access to computers of over a dozen lawmakers and was being investigated for illegal transfer of more than $3,00,000 to Pakistan.

Washington, August 4

A US lawmaker has sought freezing of illicit funds of a Pakistani-American, who had unhindered access to computers of over a dozen lawmakers and was being investigated for illegal transfer of more than $3,00,000 to Pakistan.

Imran Awan, who worked as an IT aide to top Democratic lawmaker Debbie Wasserman Schultz and several other Congressional colleagues of hers, has been accused of bank fraud for allegedly obtaining a loan “for a rental property he does not own” and then sending the money to Pakistan.

Not being prominently reported by the mainstream media, Republican lawmakers allege that there needs to be a national security investigation into this entire episode.

“The allegations levied against Imran Awan are alarming and could have serious national security ramifications. The Department of Justice must work to immediately mitigate the damage done by Awan and take whatever measures are necessary, including freezing illicit funds, in order to fully investigate this incident,” Congressman Ron DeSantis said in a letter to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday.

In his letter, DeSantis sought answers to several questions from Sessions.

He asked if the Department of Justice has utilised the United States Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to investigate the financial records of Awan and his wife Hina Alvi to discover evidence of other potential crimes.

“Have any US financial institutions filed reports of suspicious activity on any bank account held by Awan or his wife? Is the Department of Justice investigating whether any funds generated from the sale of stolen property of the House of Representatives were included as part of the wire transfer to Faisalabad, Pakistan?” the letter asks.

DeSantis questioned whether the Department would seek a court order freezing the proceeds of any real estate transaction or from the sale of stolen technological equipment.

DeSantis is a member of the Government Oversight Committee and chair of its National Security Subcommittee.

Leading members of the House Judiciary Committee and Government Oversight Committee told the Washington Free Beacon that the appropriate congressional bodies should launch an investigation into the illicit IT activity, which could include asking for testimony from Schultz on the situation.

Earlier this week, the White House said there should be a thorough investigation on this issue.

“I do think that is something we should fully look into and there should be a thorough investigation on that,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

In an interview to Breitbart News, Republican Congressman Steve King claimed that Awan had access to all the communications of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“They had access to the information on the multiple clients that they had, and that number is nearly a score, as I recall, they would have had access to all the information that came through all those computers in all those offices and access to...all the communications of the foreign affairs committee,” King said. PTI