Hussain Lawai had worked at the United Bank of the Middle East and the Faysal Islamic Bank until 1990. It was in 1990 Nawaz Sharif government privatized two public sector banks. First of them was Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) which was handed over to Mian Mansha of Lahore comparatively at a lower bid. After privatization of MCB, Hussain Lawai, a thorough professional was assigned the task as the chief executive of that bank. After that the government changed and Benazir Bhutto came into power, Hussain Lawai switched sides and started working for the PPP government, while Mansha was side-tracked. In 1996 he was made Advisor to the Prime Minister.
When the PPP Government fell, Hussain Lawai fled to Dubai and from there to Australia where he was arrested by Interpol in Canberra Airport on 4 March 1998, on the request of Pakistani authorities who charged that Lawai acted as the conduit in an alleged deal between Zardari and Abdul Razak Yaqoob. It was alleged that the deal between Zardari and ARY Gold of Dubai caused a loss of Rs. 1.82 billion to the national exchequer. Abdul Razzak Yaqoob and Asif Ali Zardari also got involved in money laundering and in a span of 18 months, 543 million dollars were sent out of Pakistan.
In October 2008 Hussain Lawai leading a consortium of foreign and local investors expressed interest in acquisition of “substantial shareholding” in Arif Habib Bank Limited (AHBL). The consortium acquired stake in Arif Habib Bank and then Mybank and also interested in getting a stake in soon-to-be-merged KASB and Atlas Bank.(wikimir)
