A BUSINESSMAN from Bolton arrested on suspicion of money laundering is being investigated by counter terrorism officers alongside the leader of a Pakistani political party.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police raided the Daubhill home of Latif Jiva and his business premises in Swan Lane Mill in January.

Four other men have been arrested as part of the enquiry led by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.

One of them, London-based Altaf Hussain, aged 61, is the exiled leader of the MQM — the Muttahida Qaumi Movement — which has been accused of using violence and intimidation to exert power in Pakistan.

The investigation was sparked when police investigating the killing of activist Imran Farooq stumbled upon hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash at the home of Mr Hussain.

He was arrested on June 3 last year, a development which sparked a furious reaction in Karachi, the city dominated for decades by the MQM.

The MQM has been accused in the past of extorting money from Karachi businesses and shipping the money to the UK — something the party strongly denies.

Police are understood to be investigating allegations reported in Pakistan that Mr Jiva has had some dealings with the MQM.

The Met's Counter Terrorism Command is managing the murder investigation and the money laundering probe.

Three men were arrested in connection with the murder, after Mr Farooq was stabbed and bludgeoned with a brick in London in 2010, but all have been released without charge.

A spokesman from The Met said detectives are not ruling out the possibility that the two investigations may be linked.

Yakub Jiva, Latif's father, whose house next door to his son's was also searched by police, has said his son does not know anyone from the MQM.

He said: "He has got nothing to do with the MQM at all. We don't know where this has come from.

"He has never met anybody from there. I know Altaf Hussain because I've seen him on TV. I've seen David Cameron on the TV but it doesn't mean I know him.

"I have no idea about the money."

Tactical aid units and crime scene investigators were seen at the two adjoining houses in Newstead Drive on January 12, searching the properties and taking photographs.

Jiva was kept in custody and quizzed by police while his office and the two homes were searched.

Mr Jiva ran Rosemead Designs, a home furnishings business which operated out of Higher Swan Lane.

Along with Mr Jiva and Mr Hussain, a 73-year-old man and 44-year-old man were arrested in December, 2013.

A 27-year-old man was arrested on February 17 in Suffolk, and was quizzed again by officers on April 30, before being released.

A sixth suspect, a 64-year-old man, was arrested on April 1.

All the arrests are on suspicion of money laundering and all suspects have been bailed until mid-July.

Mr Hussain fled Pakistan in the early 1990s but has continued to run the MQM remotely, addressing vast rallies of followers by telephone.

He says his life would be at risk if he returned to Pakistan.

At the time of Jiva's arrest, his father Yakub said: "We have done nothing whatsoever.

"Latif has never done anything like this. He is an educated person and knows he cannot do anything like that."