London/Dubai: The Judicial Magistrate of Lahore has ruled that the Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore did not register the case against the businessman and Liberian ambassador at large Umar Farooq Zahoor, Sadaf Naz and Muhammad Zubair for the kidnapping of their two young daughters. Should have gone. (FIA) in first place.
Lahore Judicial Magistrate Section 30 Ghulam Murtaza Wark said in his order that according to the prosecution, the alleged abduction of teenagers Zainab and Zaneera took place 14 years ago in Karachi. Therefore, the appropriate forum for trial should be Karachi and not Lahore.
The judge in his order said, “Therefore, this court at Lahore has no jurisdiction to decide this case, therefore the case file with all enclosures and evidence is returned to the prosecution for its disposal.” should be filed in the appropriate forum.
Zahoor has complained that his ex-wife Sophia Mirza conspired with former accountability minister Shahzad Akbar and FIA director (late) Dr Rizwan in June 2020 and filed fake cases of money laundering and kidnapping against them. rent so that the FIA can be held on them. . And today’s order by the learned magistrate has vindicated his position that Akbar abused its powers by forcing the FIA Lahore to file false cases against him despite the fact that the agency lacked jurisdiction. used.
The magistrate was hearing a case related to the allegations of former model Sophia, who complained that her marriage broke up after her ex-husband Zahoor, with the help of his friends Naaz and Zubair, kidnapped the couple’s minor daughters in September 2009. After that took to Dubai.
The order said that there was an unexplained delay of more than 10 years in registering the FIR of the alleged crime in Karachi in 2009 as per Naz’s plea and the prosecution produced 9 witnesses but they were not on record of criminal material. Failed to bring. Naaz had pleaded against the accused that he had been dragged into a “fake and fictitious” case without any reason so the case against him should be dismissed.
It is understood that the case will now be referred to FIA Karachi to complete the remaining investigations after the judge’s verdict.
Zahoor’s lawyer Rana Rehan pointed out that the matter was settled long ago by the Supreme Court in 2013 when Sophia accepted a payment of Rs 10 lakh from her ex-husband and settled the case. He pointed to a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court which disposed of the case between Sofia and Zahoor with the observation that the model had been paid.
The lawyer added that initiation of criminal proceedings on a matter already decided by the Supreme Court shows the malice of the complainant.
In June last year, JEE News revealed after an investigation how Sofia had used the name of Khush Bakht Mirza to pose as a concerned Pakistani national in a fraud and money laundering case of around Rs 16 billion against Zahoor. was charged.
Sofia had demanded the FIA to take action against Zahoor “for the sake of the name of Pakistan and to prevent financial crimes against Pakistan” and the FIA, on Akbar’s direction, promptly did so. Banned. The FIA’s Corporate Crime Circle had registered two separate cases against Zahoor at Dr Rizwan’s allegation.
Sophia had falsely accused Zahoor of being involved in gold smuggling, fraudulently obtaining billions of rupees illegally from various countries, defaming Pakistan and defrauding businesses in Pakistan.
Akbar took the matter to former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet and got approval for an investigation, but the cabinet was not told that the complainant was actually Zahoor’s ex-wife. The cabinet was also not told that the Supreme Court and a Sharia court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had already decided the custody of the couple’s daughters.
Soon after the Federal Cabinet approved the summary, FIA Lahore chief Dr Rizwan initiated action against Zahoor, putting his name on the Exit Control List (ECL) and an FIR. A non-bailable warrant was obtained from the court without fulfilling the legal requirements. Based on the requirements, and the said non-bailable warrant, his passport and CNIC were blacklisted and red notices were issued by Interpol on behalf of National Crime Bureau (NCB) Pakistan for Zahoor’s arrest.
The government of Pakistan also contacted the Dubai authorities to take action against Zahoor and in the process the UAE government cooperated with Islamabad and Interpol and put the names of Zahoor, Zubair and Sadaf on Pakistan’s wanted list. .
Interpol has since removed Zahoor’s name from its database and the fake cases filed in Pakistan have also been closed after the FIA inquiry found no evidence in the allegations leveled by Sofia.
Zahoor’s name came to the national scene in Pakistan a few weeks ago when it was revealed that he owns a rare graph watch that Khan sold on the open market after acquiring it from Crown Prince Muhammad bin Sulaiman.
The businessman showed the rare watch on television and also provided proof that it was the same watch sold by the former prime minister. He has said that the watch was sold to him by Farah Gogi, a confidant and close friend of Khan’s wife Bushra Begum.
Zahoor said that Farah was first introduced to him by Akbar in January 2020 and met him. He alleged that the former accountability minister later tried to blackmail Sofia into complying with her demands and when she refused, the FIA filed fake cases against her to defame her internationally. Done.
Both Akbar and Sophia have accepted that cases were filed against Zahoor during the PTI regime but denied other allegations.
