|
|
|
| July 8, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1426 |
Forex firms reach accord with NAB
PESHAWAR, July 7: The heads of two local forex companies, allegedly involved in a multi-billion-rupee scam, have reached an understanding with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to reimburse money to thousands of affected people over a period of three years, officials confirmed to Dawn. This will be the sixth plea-bargain deal between fraudulent forex companies and the NAB office in Lahore, if it is finalized.
Three days ago, the NAB distributed money among the affected people of two small forex companies, including Leaders Forex and International Business Consultants, officials in the NAB, Lahore, told this correspondent.
“We have paid 100 per cent claims of these two companies,” the officials said.
But three previous deals were proved failure as the NAB could retrieve only Rs15 million over the past two years from firms which had usurped more than Rs17 billion of over 25,000 small investors throughout the country, according to sources.
The NAB’s Lahore office last month had sent a joint case of Rauf International and Trade Station Securities for the final approval to its chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafiez in Islamabad, officials said, and added that after approval from the top official, the NAB would start disbursing money among the forex scam victims from the next couple of months.
Dr Haroon, the under-custody director of Rauf International and Khurram Shehzad, the chief executive of the defunct Trade Station Securities, had made commitments with the NAB to payback the affected people’s money within three years, sources said.
If the NAB chairman approved the deal, the Lahore bureau would start distributing the amount to the small investors who had paid at least $2,500 to these companies which were dealing in foreign exchange through group accounts without the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
According to the plea-bargain proposal, the Lahore bureau would distribute the money in ascending order, these sources said.
They added that after paying to the small investors, the NAB would pay to those who had invested $5,000 to the fake foreign exchange companies and later to those who had invested $7,500 and then $10,000 and so on.
But the profit amounts received by the small investors from the forex companies during their investments would be deducted from their claims submitted with the NAB, officials said.
Rauf International and Trade Station Securities have to pay 3,750 and 968 to the small investors respectively, these sources maintained.
According to sources, Dr Haroon’s Rauf International made a fraud of $44 million, while Khurram Shehzad’s Trade Station Securities usurped $5.4 million of the small investors.
But Khurram Shehzad claimed that he had paid all clients’ amount to the Rauf International, which admitted getting the money from the former. But Dr Haroon denied of getting that much amount claimed by his erstwhile business partner, these sources maintained.
Sources said that Dr Haroon had invested money in real estate in Pakistan. He also purchased lands in Lahore in other people’s names, mostly his relatives and servants. But he mainly invested small investors’ money in real estate in the United Arab Emirates.
This information was also endorsed by the officials during the visit of this correspondent to Lahore. However, they denied giving any information due to strictly being barred by the top official in Islamabad.
Dr Haroon, who had to pay Rs2.25 billion to Rauf International clients and other small forex companies, had handed over the documents of his property in Pakistan to the NAB, Lahore, and its worth was estimated to be about Rs700 million, sources said.
However, he made commitments to return the remaining Rs1.55 billion to the NAB, Lahore, in the coming three years and the former agreed to it, they maintained.
This money also includes the claim submitted by Khurram Shehzad of the Trade Station Securities.
According to the sources, the NAB avoided to arrest a close aide of Dr Haroon, who also held 30 per cent share in a real estate business of the Rauf International director. His business partner still runs a real estate office in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Lahore. He reportedly had about 300 property files of Dr Haroon, worth more than Rs1.25 billion.
The NAB, Lahore, had recently invited affected people of the Rauf International and Trade Station Securities all over the country for verifications of their claims submitted to it, these sources said.
Sources told this correspondent that the NAB, Lahore, last year struck a plea-bargain deal with the Nexus company director, Riaz Masood Wala. Mr Masood Wala agreed to pay $6 million out of total claims of $14 million submitted by his company’s clients.
The NAB agreed with Mr Masood Wala to pay $6 million in three instalments in three consecutive years. The first instalment he had to pay to the NAB in August and if paid he would be released, sources maintained.
However, his brother and director of the fake forex company managed to escape to Dubai despite their names being placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) soon after the government placed a ban on forex companies, they added.
The Still Rich company director, Dr Shab Khaiz, who is also under custody, made a plea bargain with the NAB, Lahore, in July 2004 and returned Rs15 million, out of the total Rs800million claims submitted by his clients.
And his three business partners — Chand Pervez, Waseem Khan and Asim Karim — are reportedly living luxurious lives in Dubai on public money after escaping from Pakistan.
Services International company director Capt (retd) Shoaib Ullah Chema, who had to pay Rs2 billion to his company victims, reportedly escaped to Germany, despite his name also being on the ECL.
But the NAB had got possession of his property in Mandi Bahauddin, worth around Rs1 billion, on the orders of the Lahore High Court.
Shahid Hasan Awan, the director of Bulls and Bears Company, also struck a plea-bargain deal with NAB last year, sources said.
|
|
|
|
