Missive from London: UK lawyer seeks action against influential woman

Accuses Ayatullah Durrani’s daughter-in-law of swindling him of Rs5.5m.

ISLAMABAD:

A British lawyer of Pakistani origin has requested the interior ministry to take legal action against a former employee and daughter-in-law of an influential PPP leader who allegedly swindled money from him.

In a letter received by Pakistan’s High Commission in London, Humayun Akhtar requested the interior ministry to help him recover his Rs5.5 million allegedly swindled by Mehnaz Saeed Durrani, the daughter-in-law of former state minister Ayatullah Durrani.

“I seek your [interior minister’s] order to register the case against Mehnaz Saeed Durrani and former interior secretary Siddique Akbar on grounds of fraud, deception, dishonesty, impersonation, cheating and forgery,” read the letter.



A copy of the letter, also available with The Express Tribune, claimed that Mehnaz had managed to secure a job as deputy manager of the human resources department in Islamabad Safe City Project by faking her documents. Akhtar accused Akbar of exploiting his position to help Mehnaz land the job.

Other documents attached with the application stated that Mehnaz Saeed, wife of Saeed Khan Durrani, defrauded him of Rs5.5 million when she was seeking political asylum in the UK in 2011.

After losing her job with the interior ministry, according to the letter, Mehnaz tried to seek asylum in London. She asked Akhtar for assistance, citing financial problems. Upon receiving the money, which was handed out in instalments, Mehnaz fled the UK taking the Rs5.5 million with her.

Since then, Akhtar has repeatedly filed complaints against the accused but to no avail. He has sent out a number of requests to former interior minister Rehman Malik and the Islamabad police pleading them for assistance but nothing has been done so far.

Last year too, the lawyer came to Pakistan to recover the said amount from Mehnaz but her father-in-law who was then a state minister, former interior secretary Siddique Akbar and former joint secretary Khushdil Khan filed a case against him, accusing Akhtar of harassing the family. However, Akhtar claimed that the FIR had been quashed by a judicial magistrate in Islamabad.

When contacted, Saeed Durrani said that he is all set to sue Humayun in the London court. “He [Humayun] is lying. His allegations against my wife are baseless and bear no grounds. I’m going to file a defamation suit against him in the UK,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2013.