NAB brings hope to doctors allegedly defrauded in US

Dr Bangash says he did nothing wrong and needs not return anything

ISLAMABAD: After a year of investigation, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has finally brought some hope for Pakistani doctors based in United States who were deprived of their hard-earned money by their fellow who later returned to Pakistan and built a gigantic private hospital in Islamabad and refused to give any money back to the investors.

The doctor, who allegedly defrauded his hundreds of fellow US doctors of Pakistani origin of billions of rupees in the name of investment and is being probed by National Accountability Bureau, has agreed in black and white to the NAB that he is willing to return the money to the complainants who have approached NAB.

Well-placed sources in NAB told The News that so far claims worth Rs 390 million have been received by the bureau against Dr Shaukat Bangash of Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital and Global Health Services. The sources said that once the bureau would advertise in media regarding the QIH fraud, more claimants are likely to approach the bureau because out of around two-hundred investors, no one has been either given back any amount or has been given any profit by Dr Bangash.

The spokesman of National Accountability Bureau, Nawazish Ali Asim when approached by The News confirmed that Dr Shaukat Bangash has given an application in the bureau regarding return of the money bagged from the complainants who are Doctors in US. “Yes we have received the application from CEO of Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital and we will proceed after the prosecution department’s advise,” said the NAB spokesman. He mentioned that Dr Bangash has pleaded that a similar suit has been lodged against him in the US therefore he is being subjected to double litigation. “At present the case is at the inquiry stage and delibrations are ongoing regarding recovery of the amount in question”, said the NAB spokesman.

The Director General NAB Rawalpindi, under whose supervision the case is being investigated, while talking to The News said that Dr Bangash had given the application of return of money many weeks ago, but the only thing which has come in the way is a suit in a US court on similar grounds which the complainants have filed. He said that the case is at inquiry level and NAB is on it.

The Chief Executive Officer of QIH, Dr Shaukat Bangash, when contacted said that he has not done anything wrong so why would he return anything. He, however, shied away from discussing the case in NAB. He said, “I do not know what NAB officials are telling you but when I have not done anything wrong why I would return money”.

One of the complainants, Nisar Akber, who is a doctor is US, said that some ten plaintiffs who are US citizens have filed a civil case against Shaukat Bangash in Michigan and the case is a civil case of fraud and is per US laws. This should have no bearing on a criminal case anywhere in the world.

“After we filed the civil case in Michigan, Shaukat Bangash filled a "motion to dismiss" which states the US court has no jurisdiction over a case that belongs in Pakistan. He and his brother Shafqat who has been on the Global Health Services Board of Directors and listed as the chief accountant of GHS with all filings with SECP,  also said that the statutes of limitations for filing a case for fraud has expired”, the complainant told this correspondent. He added: “After submitting those motions in USA, now Shaukat Bangash is pleading to NAB, according our attorney, that NAB must dismiss the case because there is a case in USA. The reason why we had to file in USA, was because the defendants are US citizens, the money was raised in USA and there are statutes of limitations for filing and we could not wait indefinitely”.

Details reveal that initially, NAB verified the complaints and after getting satisfied the Chairman NAB Qamar Zaman Chaudhary authorized inquiry into the issue. A company Global Health Services Ltd was registered with the authorized capital of Rs20 million and paid up capital was Rs633150.

The complaints lodged with NAB further reveal that the Dr Shaukat Bangash is a US citizen, who with the active participation of his co-accused planned to extort money from Pakistan origin doctors practicing in North America. He started collecting investment in the name of fake partnership claiming a project of Global Health Services Ltd. He collected in US Dollar over Rs30 million from each partner.  The accused and his colleagues collected the money in US Dollar through pay orders and cheques in the name of Global Health Services as well as in his own name and gave attraction of substantial profit on the investment and its full security. Since 2007/2008 billions are in unauthorized use of the accused and his colleagues who are playing fraud with the investors by issuing shares certificates of less value of Global Health Services Ltd (GHS) at a higher value. In this way a company which had paid up capital of Rs5.6 million in 2009, and in 2011 its paid up capital is shown as Rs3 billion.

That the accused extorted money on different pretext, even he has violated the US security rules in soliciting investment being a US citizen from a US citizen. The accused routinely visited US and rented a booth at the Association of Physicians of Pakistan decent of North America’s (APPNA) summer meeting and solicited investors by selling partnership and shares of QIH/GHS to doctors of Pakistani decent living and working in USA. This annual meeting is attended by over 15,000 doctors each year. The accused did not have license to sell shares/securities in USA and selling shares without a license is illegal in USA thus he cheated the complainants and others.

That the accused had committed gross violation of Companies Ordinance 1984 and undertaking made by them by inviting investment against law and committed fraud with public at large and NAB is legally obliged to take cognizance. A few examples of the illegal acts of accused and functioning of GHS Limited are as under:

i. Shares of the company are being offered to the new shareholders without giving “Right Shares” opportunity to the existing shareholders.

ii. Shares in huge quantity are allotted in the name of the accused CEO of the company which subsequently are sold at very exorbitant price to the new shareholders by misrepresenting the alleged value of building and land of the hospital.

iii. Shareholders never received audited accounts of the company so that they are unable to ascertain the book value or breakup value of the shares of M/s Global Health Services Limited. Shareholders have been provided with bogus accounting audits of the hospital.

iv. Shareholders never received notices of the general meetings and notices for election of directors thus depriving shareholders from their light to contest election of directors, resultantly all the members on the board are the blood relatives or other family members of the accused.

v. Many doctors on the inducement of the accused and co-accused have deposited cheques enclosing their hard earned money but they neither received the acknowledgment of such investment nor received share certificate to the extent of their investment.

vi.      Different rooms of the hospital have been sold to numerous investors without any properly executed sale agreement. These rooms are never transferred in the name of buyers in the concerned revenue record.

The number of rooms sold so far never been communicated to shareholders or intimated to SECP and none of its annual report contain such information.