Characters used in plot of Chinese company start surfacing

ISLAMABAD: Forgery and fraud connected with Chinese company, which through fake documents tried to implicate Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a money laundering case, has been completely exposed now. The News probe found that the Chinese company Yabiate in an indecent haste showed a Pakistani company Capital Engineering as its partner in the Multan Metro Bus project to the Beijing authorities much before it had even applied for registration in Islamabad.

Interestingly, later when the Pakistani partner applied for registration of Capital Engineering with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), its application was rejected citing some objection on its 'name'.

The News also succeeded to locate the Pakistani partner -- Ijaz Asghar Shaikh, who's brother’s name is Faisal -- raising the question if Shaikh has used his brother's name to show him as Shahbaz Sharif's frontman or there is some other Faisal Subhan yet to be discovered. The statement submitted by Yabiate to Chinese regulator CSRC just bears a signature of Faisal Subhan and a photocopy of his visiting card which is not readable. Whoever is the Faisal, the alleged frontman of Punjab chief minister, is in the knowledge of Sheikh Ijaz, who after being traced, promised to The News to provide complete information about Faisal, but suddenly went underground after inviting The News team at his Sector I-9 Islamabad office. He is still not ready to come on scene with all his cell numbers off for the last three days.

Shaikh's brother – Faisal -- was a salesman in a crockery shop in Raja Bazaar of Rawalpindi and now runs a cable business of his brother in Bagh Sardaran area of the same city. Amusingly, when The News asked Faisal whether he ever gave an affidavit to Chinese company Yabiate that he was the CEO of Capital Engineering and that this company was in fact owned by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, he said his brother got his signatures on different papers but he could not recall the time of signing them.

The central character who first tried to get the company Capital Engineering and Construction registered with the SECP on instructions of Sheikh Ijaz is one Abid Mehmood, who is a 'consultant' for such registrations. After the SECP raised objections on the name of the company and Abid informed Sheikh Ijaz about the same, it was a big shocking news for Ijaz as well as his Chinese partners as documents with the name of "Capital Engineering" were already submitted to Chinese regulator. Later, the name was changed from the Capital Engineering to "CAPFA Construction and Engineering (SMC-PVT) Limited" and the company was successfully registered with this new name.

When The News asked Abid about this, he admitted applying for the registration of Capital Engineering on the instructions of Ijaz Sheikh somewhere in September, 2016. However, when The News asked him about registering CAPFA, he categorically denied getting CAPFA registered and maintained that he separated himself after the SECP refused to register the company with the name Capital Engineering and his differences with Sheikh Ijaz. But the SECP record proves that even CAPFA is also registered by Abid and even his contact details are given in the SECP records. When The News contacted Abid once again for his version, he refused to talk and said, "Do what you can do".

Now the puzzle created by a Chinese Company Yabiate Technology Pvt Ltd about its Pakistani partner Capital Engineering & Construction Co Pvt Ltd has been solved but two questions are still unanswered; 1) Who is the mastermind of all this plot and making of fake documents and 2) Who from Pakistan got company Yabiate registered in China by using some Chinese citizens for its future use in Pakistan for such plots?

To justify its unusual transactions of money from some foreign countries, the Yabiate claimed to earn a huge sum of amount from Multan Metro Bus Project through its Pakistani partner company and gave that company a pseudo name -- Capital Engineering & Construction Co Pvt Ltd. Interestingly, first the Chinese submitted the fake documents of this fake company to CSRC whereas registration of the said company in the SECP was an afterthought. After submitting some fake documents of Capital Engineering and Construction Company to CSRC, Yabiate's owners along with their partners in Pakistan hired a consultancy firm in Pakistan to get it registered in Pakistan.

The Chinese Company Yabiate had to face the first major setback in this scandal (in fact a plot to dislodge political government here) when the SECP rejected the registration of Capital Engineering and Construction Company citing some objections on its name. The Chinese were forcing their local partners and the consultant that they want only this name (Capital Engineering) and no other name is acceptable to them.

The News investigations started from a picture displayed on Yabiate China website showing three Chinese and two Pakistanis with an introduction that a Pakistani delegation was visiting China in November 2015. One Pakistani national was Tahir Shamshad, currently vice president of Nespak Pakistan. The other was unidentified until Shamshad during a meeting with The News confirmed his name is "Ijaz". Ijaz was later recognised by employees working at his business addresses as "Ijaz Sheikh" the owner of Yabiate Pakistan. The website of Yabiate China shows Ijaz as member of Pakistani delegation headed by Tahir Shamshad. Tahir Shamshad told The News that Ijaz contacted him as a representative of some Chinese organisation.

During the investigation by this correspondent, it was revealed that a company with the name of Yabiate was also registered in Pakistan which was a sister company of Chinese Yabiate and it was registered in the name of two persons -- one Yong Lu bearing passport number G 54,324,557 and a Pakistani national Ijaz Asghar bearing CNIC No37405-0611173-3. Both of them have been shown directors of the company in Yabiate Pakistan having 70:30 ratio in company's shares respectively whereas the paid-up capital of the company was Rs10,000.

This correspondent then contacted Yabiate's Pakistani partner Ijaz Asghar and asked specifically about Faisal Subhan and other relevant questions directly related to him and his partnership with the Chinese. Ijaz promised to meet this correspondent at his company's office i.e. Plot 247, Street 6, Sector I-9/2. However despite waiting for almost two hours in his office, Ijaz did not appear before this correspondent and kept his mobile switched-off. His company's employees asked this correspondent to leave the office and if Ijaz came they would tell him to call this reporter. After Ijaz Sheikh kept his mobile off despite his promise to meet, this correspondent then visited the given addresses of other companies where he was a partner.

The matter is with the FIA now and it is up to law enforcement agencies to answer the unanswered questions and punish the real culprits behind this whole plot.