Investment scandal: Two more accused in Modaraba scam held

Mufti Idrees, Abdul Malik, directors of Fayazi Gujranwala Industries taken into custody by NAB

ISLAMABAD: The country’s top anti-graft body arrested two more accused of cheating public and depriving them of their hard-earned money in the multi-billion rupee Modaraba scam.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi circle on Saturday arrested Mufti Muhammad Idrees and Abdul Malik Bajouri, directors of Fayazi Gujranwala Industries, a senior officer of the bureau told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

The accused deprived various gullible individuals of Rs8.2 billion by wooing them into investing in the scheme for attractive profits.

The NAB has so far arrested 34 accused, including Mufti Muhammad Ehsanul Haq, CEO of the Fayazi Gujranwala Industries and recovered Rs1.73 billion from them.



The investigation teams are trying to recover the looted money from the accused, and have seized some property, houses, 6,000 kanal of agricultural land and 10 luxury vehicles, the official said.

NAB Rawalpindi has so far arrested Rasool Ayubi, Muhammad Khalid, Hussain Ahmed, Shabbir Usmani, Sajjad Ahmed, Muhammad Irfan, Hamid Nawaz, Obaidullah, Ibrarul Haq, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Aslam, Umair Ahmed, Nazir Ahmed, Ibrahim Alshoriam, M Usama, Aqeel Abbasi, Saifullah, Asif Javed, Bilal Bangash, Khan Muhammad, Mateehur Rehman, Ijaz Anwar, Muhammad Saqib, Muhammad Ehsan, Nauman Qureshi, Aksheed Hussain, Adil Butt, Hanif Khan, Hafiz Mukhtar and Bilal Afridi, he said.

The bureau’s Rawalpindi circle has sent six references of Modaraba and Musharaka schemes worth Rs22 billion to the accountability courts, the official said.

According to NAB, around 33,744 affected people, mostly from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Rawalpindi, invested their hard-earned money in the scheme.

A large number of victims have filed applications with the NAB Rawalpindi to date, claiming that the accused robbed them under the Islamic investment scheme by promising attractive returns, he added.

The key accused, Mufti Ehsanul Haq, was arrested in June 2013, who is in judicial custody in Adiala Jail. During his arrest, Ehsan’s brother Mufti Abrar and his close relatives managed to convince hundreds of victims not to file claims with the NAB and promised to restart distribution of profits soon.

Conference begins today

A two-day NAB directors-general (DGs) conference will start from Monday, said a press release. During the 20th DGs conference, matters including operation, prosecution, HR management, A&P, T&R, HQ division and implementation status of the 19th conference will come under discussion.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2015.