Father’s fraud case: Girl’s education plans on hold as court calls for more papers
The girl, Ayeman, was stopped from going to the UK on December 25, 2010. She said she was studying there and her classes had started on January 7. The FIA detained her for ‘cooperation’ in the fraud case involving her father, Feroz Aslam, and also seized her travel documents.
At the last hearing, the bench had asked the girl to submit her education documents to prove that she is actually studying in a college in the UK and that she had completed the required education in Pakistan. On Thursday, Ayeman’s counsel submitted her admission documents, support certificate, bank account of her sponsor in UK and other documents, which the bench found satisfactory.
The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) was present before the court as he was issued notice since the FIA is one of the principal respondents in the case. He said that the girl’s father has defrauded the general public of Rs32 million. He suggested that she may be allowed to proceed abroad if she executes a bond (written statement) that promises she would cooperate in the investigation and that she would personally hold herself responsible for the Rs32 million that her father allegedly swindled.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh, asked if an FIR had been registered against the girl, but FIA officials said there was no evidence against her so a case had not been lodged.
“We would allow the petitioner to proceed after she executes a bond before the nazir (custodian of the court) that she will return immediately as and when required and would cooperate with the investigation,” the bench observed, but refrained from any official directives.
On this, over a dozen elderly people, the alleged victims in the fraud case, who were present in court, objected. The bench then asked the victims to file their claims and share details of the investment or the funds they had allegedly entrusted with the petitioner’s father. The bench said that it could not ignore the plight of the alleged victims either, after which it adjourned till January 28.
Feroz Aslam was a bank manager at Habib Bank Limited, Gulshan Branch. He allegedly lured people to invest in a company named after his daughter, Ayeman, and assured them of a handsome profit. He later became AVP and about two years ago, he left Pakistan while his wife and his two sons also went abroad. Ayeman said she did not know where her family was. She said she was living with her maternal uncle in Islamabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2011.
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