Greed for money?: Mirpur Mathelo jeweller shows everything that glitters isn’t gold

Customer lodges FIR against goldsmith for selling artificial gold to him

SUKKUR: Ghotki police arrested on Friday night a jeweller, who is also the official jeweller of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in Mirpur Mathelo, on alleged charges of selling artificial gold to a customer.

The police raided the house of the jeweller, Saleem Ansari, located in Hazarey Shah Muhalla, took him into custody and seized his Suzuki Cultus car. According to the police, a man named Ayaz Malik lodged an FIR against Saleem and his brother, Manzoor Ansari, alleging that he had purchased gold ornaments worth millions of rupees from Saleem's shop, which on scrutiny turned out to be imitation gold. According to the police, at NBP Ansari assesses the value of gold  that people  pledge with the bank as collateral to seek loans.

However, a Mirpur Mathelo-based journalist, who is privy to the development, claimed that Saleem allegedly helped a man obtain loans worth Rs20 million from the bank using imitation gold. At the bank, Saleem allegedly verified the gold as genuine and the man was given the loan. The journalist added that, during the audit last week, it was revealed that the gold pledged to get the loan was artificial. The journalist claimed that, to avoid any troubles, the bank officials sent another man to the police station to lodge an FIR against Saleem on fraud charges.

NBP branch manager Ghulam Hussain Bozdar confirmed Saleem's arrest. However, Bozdar denied about the jeweller's involvement in any fraud with the bank. Bozdar added that Saleem had been arrested for selling imitation gold to a man. The branch manager made it clear that the bank had nothing to do with this matter. Further investigation is under way, the police said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2016.