Double Shah returns: Comments sought from SHO on alleged scam

Case registered against man accused of scamming hundreds of people in another Double Shah-like episode.

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge sought comments from the Factory Area station house officer in two petitions seeking the registration of a case against a man accused of scamming hundreds of people in another Double Shah-like episode.

Abdul Majeed and Shama Bibi filed separate petitions against Amjad Pervez, head of Misal International Imports and Exports in the Factory Area, accusing him of minting millions by promising people Rs150 monthly profit on a Rs50,000 investment. They said the profit was to be delivered to the ‘investors’ each month via post.

The petitioners said that Pervez’s scheme was widely advertised and a lot of people claimed to have received the monthly profit so they gave him Rs100,000 each.

They said they received Rs300 per month for several months but then the cheques stopped coming.

The petitioners said that they visited Pervez’s office but it was locked.

Several people who had not received their cheques had also crowded in front of his office.

Many who had received cheques said the cheques were dishonoured by the Allied Bank‘s Walton Road branch, they said.

The petitioners told the court that many of these people had given Pervez as much as Rs500,000. When they visited the Factory Area Police to file a complaint, the station house officer refused to do so.

They requested the court to direct the station house officer  to register a case against Pervez.

Abdul Majeed told The Express Tribune that they had heard so many good things about Pervez that they had trusted him blindly. He said that he had received cheques from Pervez for several months without fail, till one day Pervez locked up his office and fled with the millions of rupees he had scammed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2014.