KARACHI: In its efforts to unfold the saga around Rs1.5 billion embezzlement, former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) education director was nailed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) who had secured a pre-arrest bail some days back.
It is to be noted that the FIA had arrested former KMC budget director Nasir Mehmood Ishaque in the scam that also involved senior Allied Bank Ltd (ABL) employees – Azhar Ali Khawaja and Saeed Ahmed Qazi. T
According to an FIA press release, the KMC had lodged a complaint with the federal agency about illegal and fraudulent encashment worth Rs1.5 billion. The investigations began and the FIA learned that a bank employee – Syed Wajahat Hussian Naqvi along with the KMC directors opened a fake account at ABL’s Civic Centre branch and illegally transferred funds from various accounts belonging to the KMC.
The FIA confirmed that nearly Rs1.5 billion were withdrawn in cash from this fake account and were later transferred to a bank account belonging to MS builders. This account was also maintained at ABL’s Civic Centre branch.
According to the FIA, mastermind of this embezzlement was one Wajahat who had been killed in an apparent incident of target killing on January 22 last. The FIA informed that the illegal money was used to purchase property number FL-3, 11-A in North Karachi and there are apartments under construction on that site.
More than Rs90 million were also illegally transferred from the KMC account to M/S Moosa Enterprises and M/S Sanford Associations, both companies owned by Sheikh Muhammad Shahid, a business partner of the accused Wajahat.
As per reports, the bank does not possess any records of these transactions and it has become difficult for it to trace the money. The FIA has also seized all the accounts and has recovered some of the stolen money.
