Karachi: The FIA has issued a notice against the owners of Singapore based construction company Meinhardt declaring Chairman Meinhardt Shahzad Naseem and CEO Omar Shahzad as absconders, appealing to the public to provide information regarding the accused to the FIA Commercial Banking Circle. In this regard, the FIA has posted notices of the accused being wanted in the FIA Commercial Banking Circle and Sharah Faisal police station.
Dr. Shahzad Naseem and Omar Shahzad are sought by the FIA in the money laundering case involving billions of rupees from Pakistanis who invested in the Creek Marina project in 2007. Dr. Shahzad Naseem initiated the residential project under the name of Creek Marina in DHA Phase 8 in 2007. However, despite seventeen years passing, investors neither received flats nor was the money refunded due to the project’s non-completion. Affected individuals approached the FIA in this matter.
Singaporean company Meinhardt announced the start of a 6-star project in Defense Housing Authority (DHA) in 2005 and opened accounts in local banks without registration with the Board of Investment. The company collected money from the public for advance booking, with over 300 families trusting the project and depositing Rs. 2.5 billion in the mentioned accounts.
According to the ongoing investigations by the FIA Meinhardt Singapore through the Creek project embezzled billions of rupees from the public, opened illegal bank accounts, and transferred more than three billion rupees abroad. The investigations reveal that Creek Marina Singapore was not a registered company in Pakistan, nor was it registered with the Board of Investment. Under the Money Laundering Act 2010 and Companies Act 2017, a foreign company cannot open a bank account in Pakistan unless registered. However, Dr. Shahzad Naseem, a Singaporean citizen, opened an account in the local bank with the help of bank staff using the name Creek Marina Singapore and transferred the funds abroad through this accounts.
Recently, the FIA has requested banking records of the accused from banks for investigation into money laundering allegations against nominated suspects in the Creek Marina project. A case has been registered against the accused, Nasim Shahzad, and his son Omar Shahzad, in the Commercial Banking Circle for money laundering. To investigate money laundering charges against the accused, the FIA commercial bank circle has written letters to all compliance heads of commercial banks, requesting information on the accounts of the accused, bank statements, credit/debit cards, vouchers, and details of transactions exceeding five hundred thousand rupees.