Money scam: UK lawyer seeks justice in Rs5.5m swindle

Alleges some retired and in-service civil servants are backing the accused woman

ISLAMABAD: A British lawyer has sought legal action against some retired and serving civil servants who allegedly have been backing a woman who cheated Rs5.5 million out of the attorney.

The London-based lawyer, Humayun Akhtar, filed a case against former interior secretary Siddique Akbar, former IG Police Islamabad Bani Amin Khan, a serving officer Khushdil Khan and an influential woman in one of Islamabad lower courts, his lawyer Iftikhar Awan said in Islamabad on Thursday.

Akhtar has repeatedly filed complaints against the accused persons with Pakistan High Commission in London, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, but to no avail, Awan added.

Akhtar also had filed requests to former interior minister Rehman Malik and the Islamabad police, pleading them for assistance “but nothing has been done so far,” he said.  “I am still around and following various cases, both criminal and civil, against Siddique Akbar, his henchman Khushdil and former IGP Islamabad Banu Amin Khan and, of course,  Mehnaz, now daughter-in-law of an influential politician,” Akhtar stated while responding to The Express Tribune in an email.

“In that Khawaja Siddique Akbar abetted with others named above to help his fraudster woman friend one Mst. Mehnaz to have a bogus FIR registered against the complainant which resulted in the loss of his liberty for seven days (3 days in PS Ramna and 4 days in Adyala jail). He also had to spend more than Rs27 lakhs just to clear his name,” reads his court files.

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

About Mehnaz’s fraud, Akhtar claimed that she came to London with the assistance of former interior secretary Siddique Akbar and asked him for assistance in London, citing financial problems. Upon receiving Rs5.5 million, which was handed out in instalments, Mehnaz fled the UK taking the money with her, he claimed.

However, Saeed Durrani, husband of Mehnaz, said, “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.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2015.