ATTOCK: The dream (or greed) to become rich overnight often leaves people even deprived of their lifetime savings.
Khan Badshah of the Attock district faced a similar situation. The 53-year-old has been living in a rented house in the Attock city for the last 14 years.
He had a dream to build his own house on a plot which he purchased after retirement from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in 2000.
“After retirement, I opened a general store in the city and brought my family here from my native village.” Khan said he saved Rs0.3 million and was looking for investing the amount in some business to get profit and construct his own house.
In 2013, one of his friends told him about a firm involved in Mudarba business. He said the firm, Elixir Group of Companies, was giving a monthly profit of Rs4,000 to Rs5,000 on the investment of Rs0.1 million.
“I handed over the Rs0.3 million to an agent of the company in April 2013. But two months later, the company closed its office in the city and disappeared,” he added.
Another resident of Attock, 49-year-old homeopathic doctor Younus said the representatives of the company told him that they were doing interest-free trade and the company had its head office in Malaysia.
“I deposited over Rs0.2 million with the representative of the company in October 2012 and started getting Rs8,000 per month till June 2013,” he said.
Pervez Ahmed Khan, 49, from the Mithyal village of Jhand tehsil deposited over Rs0.9 million with the company in March 2013. He said he lost the whole amount of his pension which he wanted to utilise on the marriage of his daughter.
“I trusted the representatives of the company because they were renowned religious scholars of the city,” he said.
Another resident of Attock, Ameer Ahmed, 42, said he had given Rs0.2 million to the company in 2012.
“I am working in the agriculture department of Punjab and got Rs0.2 million from my Provident Fund for the construction of a house. I invested the amount in the Mudarabah business and lost it.”
He said now it was very difficult for him to meet his monthly expenses as Rs5,000 per month were deducted from his salary for the PF loan every month.
Kamran Khan, who runs shoe and cloth shops in the local market, said he also paid over Rs1 million to the company in 2012.
Another resident of Attock, Mohammad Iftikhar, 42, handed over Rs0.6 million in March 2013 to the representative of the company.
“I am working in a nursing school as a cook and living with my family in a rented house.” He said out of the Rs19,000 salary, he returned Rs6,500 to his office every month for the Rs0.6 million loan he had taken and submitted for the Mudarabah business.
The affected people also included women who had deposited money with the company after selling their sold gold ornaments and plots.
Now around 3,000 people in Attock have approached the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for the recovery of their money.
According to religious scholar Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani, Mudarba is a special kind of partnership where one partner gives money to the other for investing it in a commercial enterprise.
“The investment comes from the first partner who is called Rabbul Mal while the management and work is the exclusive responsibility of the other called Mudarib,” he added.
Qari Ahmed Nawaz, a representative of the Elixir Group of Companies, told Dawn that hundreds of people had deposited millions of rupees with the agents of the company.
“Over 100 agents of the company were active in the Attock district to convince the people for investment in the name of Mudarba.”
He said the owner of the company paid Rs1,500 on Rs0.1 million to each of the agents.
“I also received Rs230 million from 337 people which I submitted to the firm,” he added.
When contacted, a spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) said seven companies were involved in the illegal business of Mudarabah without approval from the SECP while none of them was registered with the government. He said accounts of the companies were not verified by any certified auditor.
The Elixir Group of Companies was registered with the SECP to operate for dairy, housing, beverage trading but it got involved in the business of Mudarba without approval from the SECP, he added.
The spokesman said Mudarba was a legal business but it required approval from the SECP.
“The SECP is only a regulatory body while it is the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies, including police, FIA and NAB, to monitor the illegal activities of such companies,” the spokesman added.
An official of the NAB added that Rs30 billion deposited by the people had been misappropriated by illegal Mudarba companies in the country.
He said around seven companies owned by religious scholars were involved in the Mudarba scam, including MM Qureshi, Speedex Company, Faizi Group of Industries, Elixir Group of Companies, Alwasay Group, Meezban Group and Mega Group.
The official said almost 12,081 affected people had submitted their claims to NAB for the recovery of their money while the verification of the claims was under process.
He said 10 accused, including Mufti Osama, Mufti Ihsan and Mufti Ibrahim, were in the custody of NAB while some of the owners of these companies had left Pakistan.
“NAB is in the process of registering a reference in the accountability court which will be helpful in bringing the accused back to Pakistan.”
The official said NAB had included the names of the accused in the exit control list besides freezing their bank accounts.
NAB spokesman Ramzan Sajid told Dawn that they were pursuing the matter by utilising all resources.