LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore on Thursday filed a corruption reference against 39 people in a case of Rs10 billion scam of motorcycles.

According to the NAB, M/s MNM (Pvt) Ltd Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Ahmed Sial and 271 other stockists associated with it deprived more than 11,000 people of their hard-earned money on the promise of providing them with new motorcycles (each against Rs25,000).

It said prime suspect Muhammad Ahmad Sial got MNM (Pvt) Ltd registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in February 2017 with declaration of Muhammad Arshad Ali and Irum Shehzadi as shareholders whereas the company was actually authorised to do the business of import and export of motorcycles’ spare parts. Afterwards the company violated its memorandum clause and started collecting huge investments dishonestly by promising sale of motorcycles and misappropriated more than Rs10 billion.

The bureau said the SECP referred a complaint to the NAB Lahore in August 2017. During the course of investigation it was revealed that the suspects expanded business nationwide through hiring of more than 271 stockists.

“The management of M/s MNM Ltd also lured the general public through social media networks. The stockists booked thousands of bikes and issued receipts through their websites and showrooms.”

The NAB said it attached all known properties and bank accounts of the suspects worth Rs840 million. It said a total of 39 suspects were arrested.

More than 11,000 affected people approached the NAB Lahore with their claims amounting to Rs17 billion. Among them verified claims turned out to be Rs10.7bn. Subsequently, it said 10 suspects opted for plea bargain from which four had been approved by the accountability court.

NAB Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem said it was committed to fighting menace of corruption. A thorough professionalism was being observed to fulfill this commitment, he said, adding that NAB’s prime focus was to recover looted money from culprits and compensate the affected people.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2018