NAB arrests another suspect in MNM motorcycles scam

Accused is involved in pocketing a commission Rs10.2m

LAHORE: In a major development in the MNM (Munafa Network Marketing) motorcycles scam, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore arrested a suspect from Sargodha. He was accused of grabbing Rs10.2 million as commission for booking 5,000 motorcycles while acting as the director of the firm.

NAB said accused Muhammad Waqqas was allegedly involved in cheating and defrauding people by luring them with the promise of providing motorcycles on an investment of Rs25,000. He allegedly transferred hefty amounts to the accounts of MNM, a multi-level marketing (MLM) company.

During the course of investigations, it was revealed that the main accused, Ahmed Sayal, got his multi-level marketing firm registered with the Securities Exchange Commissions of Pakistan (SECP) in 2017 and started a business of import and export of motorcycle spare parts. Later, the accused, in connivance with others, launched a company named Munafa Network Marketing (MNM) and began to receive hefty amounts on the pretext of providing motorcycles after receiving Rs25,000 cash. The delivery of the two-wheelers was promised within 45 days.



Meanwhile, hundreds of offices were opened in different cities like Jhang and Bhakkar where thousands of agents collected billions of rupees from people just for their own commission of Rs1,000 on each application. Initially, the owners of MNM company distributed around 20,000 motorcycles as a confidence-building move to attract more investment.

Smelling a deceitful act, the SECP referred the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which later transferred the case to NAB Lahore in September 2017.

NAB Lahore has, so far, arrested 26 culprits involved in this scam. As many as 17 accused were arrested from different parts of Punjab in a sting operation launched by NAB’s intelligence team last week. The arrest of Waqqas is also part of the ongoing crackdown against corruption.

NAB investigation officials obtained the physical remand of Waqqas till June 13 after producing him before an accountability court.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2018.