Clean sweep: NAB probes scam involving clerics

LAHORE:

Two religious scholars extorted more than Rs13.2 million in a scam promising investors lucrative profits, National Accountability Bureau officials have told The Express Tribune. The bureau has opened an investigation into the activities of Waheed Qadri, Rizwan Haider and others, after eleven people approached NAB saying they had been extorted.

The victims were told the scheme enabled interest-free investment and their money would be utilized to purchase sacrificial animals. Some victims told NAB officials they had sold their wives’ jewelry, disposed of properties or failing businesses in order to make an investment. Officials said they have been approached by other victims since the probe started, and the bureau is inviting claims from the general public at NAB’s Punjab office.

NAB officials said the names of the accused and their accomplices have been placed on the Exit Control List and their accounts and assets frozen.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2014.