KARACHI: Despite the order of the Special Court, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s anti-human trafficking circle in Karachi did not send the case of an alleged fraud with American insurance companies to the concerned court for further proceedings.
As per the official documents, the First Information Report (FIR), charge sheet, court order and other correspondence (copies of which are available with The News), the alleged fraud was committed by Fahad Saleem Kharbay and Faria Saleem Kharbay by falsely declaring their mother Seema Saleem Kharbay dead and producing her fake death certificate to defraud the American insurance companies on account of Seema Kharbay’s life insurance.
The official record reveals that Seema Saleem Kharbay had bought two life insurance plans from the American companies, American General Life Insurance and MetLife in 2008 and 2009 and had been regularly paying the premiums until 2011. Then her son Fahad and daughter Faria approached the companies and claimed the insurance amount on the basis of Kharbay’s fake death certificate and received from the insurers nearly $1.53 million and transferred the funds to branches of a private bank in Karachi.
The scam was uncovered when Seema Saleem Kharbay applied for a visa at the United States Consulate. Following this, the consulate officials sent a written complaint to the FIA.
Mahboob Ali Dayo, a Judge of the Special Court (Central-1), Karachi, on January 5, 2021 returned the charge sheet to Stephen, the Sub Inspector of FIA-AHTC, the investigation officer of the case, in order to submit the case before the court having jurisdiction. The court in its order narrated “As both officers Mumtaz Ali Abbasi, former secretary of union council-6, Shahbaig Lane, Lyari, Karachi and Dr Hussain Akhtar, medical officer at Lyari General Hospital, Karachi, accused in the case, are provincial government employees, therefore, in order to try the cases of provincial government employees, the provincial Anti-Corruption Court is already in existence; therefore, the case is ought to be tried by the competent court having the jurisdiction”. There are many interesting aspects of this matter; the alleged crime was committed on June 8, 2011 and after eight years, a complaint was made on May 9, 2019 by Scott J. Jess Assistant, Regional Security Officer-Investigator of US Consulate General, Karachi; the inquiry was initiated on June 25, 2019, the First Information Report (FIR) was lodged after one and a half years on December 1, 2020 and the interim challan was submitted by Sub Inspector Stephen, the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, in January 2021.
Though, the court ordered on January 5, 2021 but despite the passage of seven months, the FIA-AHTC did not submit the matter before the concerned court, while the IO of case SI Stephen informed The News that the matter was discussed in the board meeting of FIA and instructions were given to file an appeal in the Sindh High Court against the order of the Special Court (Central-1), Karachi.
In his written complaint registered with the deputy director of FIA-AHTC, Scot J. Jess, assistant regional security officer-investigator of US Consulate General, Karachi, said that Kharbay had contacted the mission in person in April 2019, although she was declared dead in June 2011. He said that Kharbay also told the US consulate officials that she had traveled internationally on her Pakistani passport after the date of her reported death.
“Kharbay did not cooperate with the investigators upon being confronted with the fraudulent Pakistani death certificate other than stating that she was living in Karachi at the residences of her brother and sister, but she refused to provide her siblings’ names and addresses,” Jess’s letter reads.
The FIA has registered a case against Kharbay’s son and daughter, a doctor of Lyari General Hospital, Karachi area and a former secretary of the union council. Upon probing the matter and checking Kharbay’s travel history, the FIA discovered that she had taken flights to 10 countries, including Thailand, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Brazil, between August 2011 and July 2013, after her insurance was claimed.
As per the FIR, it was also discovered during the FIA investigation that Lyari Union Council-6 secretary Mumtaz Ali Abbasi, in collusion with Lyari General Hospital’s senior medical officer Dr Hussain Akhtar, allegedly facilitated the issuance of Kharbay’s fake death certificate, which stated her cause of death to be heart failure. A receipt from Fishermen Morna cemetery was also attached to the certificate.
The accused's son and daughter then opened bank accounts, one each in two branches of a private bank in Dhoraji and near Jheel Park, Karachi, to transfer the money acquired from the US insurance companies. The amount was then transferred to the said accounts, further added the FIR. Hence, the charges of money laundering have been included in the FIR. The interim challan in the case will be submitted to the court in two weeks, concluded the FIR.
