Religious scholar cons millions from followers

The mufti promised to pay a profit of Rs5,000 to Rs8,000 against every Rs100,000 invested in his unregistered company.

ISLAMABAD:

A religious leader used his influence to con thousands of his rich devotees into investing billions of rupees in a fake modaraba (Islamic banking) that he set up.

Mufti Qari Ehsanul Haq, a religious scholar from Gujranwala, promised to pay people a profit of Rs5,000 to Rs8,000 against every Rs100,000 invested in Fayyazi Gujranwala Industries, an unregistered company.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Rawalpindi managed to wriggle out a confession from the accused after two months of interrogation in their custody. Haq confessed to ‘cheating the public at large’ and agreed to voluntarily return the money.

“We determined that he minted Rs553 million in all but after June, we received more complaints against him, and the amount went up to Rs1.3 billion,” said NAB director general in Rawalpindi, Subah Sadiq.

The bureau arrested Haq in April and released him in June after he took the Voluntary Return (VR) option.

He paid Rs446 million in the first installment and promised to pay back the remaining Rs105 million within another three months. However, as a guarantee the bureau confiscated his properties which included four residential units.



NAB had the option to sell his properties and raise money to pay back those who had been victims of the fraud, in case the accused failed to keep his pledge.

“When we first arrested him, the people he had cheated, actually approached us to set him free,” said DG Sadiq, pointing to the clout wielded by Haq.

However, after he was released, the mufti refused to pay the people the promised profit of Rs8,000 that he had been giving them previously, according to the NAB official, who added that following this, the complainants approached NAB to arrest him again.

In total, the bureau received 1,284 claims against the fake businessmen and 446 were received after he was released. The bureau  said Haq’s name was put on the Exit Control List (ECL) and he would be arrested for the recovery of the fresh claims against him which were currently being verified.

During the investigation, NAB discovered that the mufti had no established business except for three small companies, with a cumulative profit of hardly a million rupees.

“He was taking money from one to pay the other from it,” said a NAB official.

NAB even published public messages in newspapers inviting claims against the fake businessman. The bureau engaged a businessman named Mian Moeen as a mediator in the case. However, NAB arrested Moeen after it received complaints that he accepted Rs450 million and four luxury vehicles from Haq to get his case disposed of.

The bureau arrested Moeen after verifying the complaints and took the vehicles into custody. The complaint was lodged by Haq’s brother-in-law after he agreed on the condition of voluntary return.

Through newspaper advertisements, NAB has warned people against dealing with Haq or his fake company and have also invited people to come up with their claims against the fake modaraba businessman if they had conducted any transactions with him.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2013.