Illegal activities: NAB files corruption reference in modaraba scam

Five people accused of taking Rs2.71 billion from locals to ‘invest’ in a company.

PESHAWAR:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has filed a Rs2.71 billion corruption reference in court against five people accused of being involved in a modaraba scam.

According to the reference filed in the accountability court of Judge Muhammad Ibrahim, Jamshed Khan, Abdul Sattar, Muhammad Daud Shah, Ahmad Iqbal and Abdul Samad deceived hundreds of people by taking money from them on the pretext of investing it in a company called Life Medicine Company.

The accused collected money from people across the province by telling them that the investment would increase the amount manifold. However, after collecting the money, the accused closed down their offices and absconded, the reference stated.

NAB managed to arrest Ahmad Iqbal and Abdu Samad with the help of Hangu police but they were later released on bail by a court. The other three are still at large and the bureau is searching for them.

The trial is expected to begin in the next few days once the court serves notices and summons to the respondents.

Bail denied

Separately, Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Mazhar Alam Miankhel rejected the bail application of a man accused of illegally activating 56 SIMs suspected to have been bought by criminals.

A single judge bench comprising the chief justice was informed by counsel Muhammad Safdar that the accused, Noorul Haq, runs a PCO on Charsadda Road and sells cellular companies’ SIMs. Safdar added the accused would activate SIMs for the customers who were not familiar with the procedure.

According to the counsel, Haq took the required data from customers who came to his shop to purchase SIMs and would later use that data to activate others SIMs bought by people involved in criminal activities.

The court was told that a team of the Federal Investigation Agency raided the shop and arrested Haq, seizing several illegally registered SIMs.

After hearing the arguments, the court rejected the bail application of the accused and sent him back to prison.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2014.