Loan irregularities: NAB unearths Rs140m fraud

Principal accused arrested, agree to return money.

LAHORE:
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab has unearthed a case of loan fraud in which the accused fraudulently got an amount of Rs140 million from a single bank branch on the basis of bogus collateral. The loans were taken against five different firms, The Express Tribune has learnt.

In this scam of five fraudulent and eventually defaulted loans, NAB has arrested five accused including National Bank of Pakistan Lytton Road, Lahore, Branch Manager Umeed Ayyaz, bank’s legal attorney Advocate Rana Imtinan Saeed, Faisal Rasheed Malik, Malik Arif (brother-in-law of Faisal Rasheed) and Zahid Imtiaz. The arrested persons have assured the recovery of an amount of Rs63.75 million out of Rs140 million including an amount of Rs1.25 million in cash. The five firms against which the loans were taken out include Paragon Leather, Imperial Chemicals, Copier Traders, Y2K Computers and Ikhlaq Traders.

NAB has also been assured by the accused that Rs53.5 million out of Rs140 million in the shape of properties and other undertakings will be handed over.


Malik Aaqal Javed, chief executive of Paragon Leather also assured NAB that he would return an amount of Rs25 million.

The chain of said accused cheated each other after loans were sanctioned. Faisal Rasheed is said to be the mastermind of three loans in the name of Copier Traders for an amount of Rs20 million, an amount of Rs15 million in the name of Y2K and an amount of Rs20 million in the name of Ikhlaq Traders.

The accused Mian Nasim Tariq got an amount of Rs45 million in the name of Imperial Chemicals and escaped to the UK. NAB has decided to contact Interpol to arrest Tariq, sources said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2010.
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