KARACHI: A security company extorted millions of rupees from retired army officers, judges, and bureaucrats in the name of investment in the stock market.
FIA has tracked down 36 residential and commercial plots worth millions of rupees.
The accused, instead of buying shares by receivied money from government officials in the stock market, residential and commercial properties were purchased in posh areas of Karachi.
According to the FIA investigation, teams of the Stock Exchange and SECP also declared M/s Royal Securities Pvt Ltd as a fraud.
A husband, wife, and two brothers are among the accused who obtained millions of rupees from government officials through fraud.
According to the information received, the FIA Corporate Crime Circle Karachi has registered the accused Imran Khan, son of Madriaz, Rizwan Riaz, in inquiry number 40/2019 initiated on the petitioner’s request Zaratish Ahmed and Amjad Parvez.
In the investigation of money laundering against Muhammad Riaz and Atif Shabbir, the son of Shabbir Ahmed, 36 commercial and residential plots were traced.
It should be noted that instead of investing millions of rupees in the name of investment of retired military officers and other government officials in the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the owners of M/s. Royal Securities Private Limited purchased plots and buildings, and the same money was transferred to their personal bank accounts.
Initially, on the complaint of the government officers and police officers who were cheated, a charge sheet No. 289/2021 was registered in Malir Cantt Police Station, and the additional IGA appointed in Sindh Police, Capt. Haider Raza wrote a letter after which the case was transferred to FIA Karachi for a money laundering investigation against the accused.
Inquiry No. 40/2019 had already been registered in the FIA Corporate Crime Circle on the request of Brigadier (Rtd) Shah Mehmood, a Malir Cantt resident of the government official, who was defrauded in the name of investment in the stock market. Therefore, the case transferred from Malir Cantt police station was also assigned to FIA Corporate Crime Circle Karachi for a money laundering investigation.
During the investigation, it was found that the three main accused, Imran Khan, Rizwan Riaz, and Atif Shabbir, lured the retired government officials with the illusion of investment in the stock exchange through M/s Royal Securities Private Limited and the money received from the victims. Along with transferring to personal accounts, commercial and high-rise plots were also purchased, and these plots were assigned in their own names.
The FIA investigation revealed that when complaints started coming in against M/s Royal Securities Pvt Ltd, two separate investigation teams were formed in Pakistan Stock and SECP, which declared the company as a fraud, while the Pakistan Stock investigation team had canceled the license of M/s Royal Securities Pvt Ltd and imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore.
During the investigation, Naima Atif, the wife of accused Atif Shabbir, was also implicated in the fraud. It was also revealed that the investment company was being run without trading accounts.