That time when Farah ‘Gogi’ was scammed after booking $500,000 Porsche

In a startling revelation, it has emerged that Farah Khan, a close friend of former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, had booked an expensive German luxury car worth $500,000. But she was scammed.

When she realized that she was being scammed, Farah filed last year a case with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against the owner of Porsche Center in Lahore for being defrauded.

What happened

Farhat Shahzadi, also known as Farah Khan alias Gogi, had approached the local dealer of the German luxury car brand Porsche.

Her company, M/s Al-Buraq Housing Pvt Ltd, had approached M/s Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd in 2019 to buy a car.

M/s Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd deals in cars created by the German automotive brand Porsche AG (based in Stuttgart, Germany). The car manufacturer is a popular car brand worldwide and is seen as a symbol of status and money.

Documents available with SAMAA TV Investigation Unit (SIU) showed that Farah went to the car dealership’s showroom located on Bahar Shah Road in Al-Faisal Town, Lahore.

The dealership and the company operating it are owned and run by Abuzar Bukhari and his wife, Noureen Abuzar Bukhari. It claims to be an official dealership for Porsche in Pakistan, but they are not listed on the global website of the car manufacturer.

After reviewing the available options, Farah settled on a Porsche Panamera Turbo S E Hybrid Executive, which had a retail price of $502,350.

She made an advance payment equivalent to $256,111 through a cheque. This is equivalent to around Rs17.1 million.

The finance team at the center issued her a receipt for her purchase dated May 25, 2019.

The cheque was later cashed, and the money was credited to an account operated by M/s Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd.

Later, Bukhari told Farah that they were unable to deliver the vehicle but were willing to refund her money.

Farah claimed that despite repeated assurances, Bukhari and his wife allegedly embezzled the money, deceiving her.

Farah moves FIA

Thereafter, Farah Khan, through her company M/s Al-Buraq Housing Pvt Ltd, approached the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and lodged a case against Bukhari, his wife and his company M/s Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd.

The case was registered under sections 420, 406, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), read with sections 3, and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010.

Section 420: Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property:
Whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security, or anything which is signed or sealed, and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security, shall be punished with imprisonment, of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 406: Punishment for criminal breach of trust: Whoever commits a criminal breach of trust snail be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 164[seven] 164 years, or with a fine, or with both.

Section 109: Punishment of abetment if the Act abetted committed In consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment:
Whoever abets any offence shall, if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, and no express provision is made by this Code, for the punishment of such abetment, be punished with the punishment provided for the offence.

FIR against Abuzar Bukhari

The case by Farah is not the only case which had been lodged against Bukhari.

He is named in seven other FIRs and is accused of defrauding people for Rs34.4 million.

Of these, four cases have been lodged in various police stations of Lahore and one in Gujrat over the past three years.

Other complainants against Bukhari

Complainant Syed Hussain Ijaz had filed an FIR at the Gulberg police station in Lahore on November 4, 2020, for defrauding him of Rs5 million.

Similarly, Abdul Raoof Ahsan had filed an FIR under section 406 PPC at the Defence (A) police station in Lahore on December 18, 2020, for fraud of Rs5 million.

Shahzad Malik had filed an FIR under section 489-F PPC (489-F. Dishonestly issuing a cheque: Whoever dishonestly issues a cheque towards repayment of a loan or fulfilment of an obligation which is dishonored on presentation shall be punished with imprisonment, which may extend to three years or with fine, or with both unless he can establish, for which the burden of proof shall rest on him, that he had made arrangements with his bank to ensure that the cheque would be honored and that the bank was at fault in not honoring the cheque.) at the Ghalib Market police station in Lahore on September 16, 2020, for fraud of Rs4.9 million.

Umer Hussain filed an FIR under section 489-F at Ghalib Market police station in Lahore on October 10, 2020, for fraud worth Rs5 million.

Usman Hameed had filed an FIR under section 489-F PPC at the Ghalib Market police station in Lahore on October 16, 2020, for fraud of Rs5 million.

Khawar Durrani filed an FIR under section 489-F PPC at the Old Anarkali police station in Lahore on October 20, 2020, for fraud of Rs5 million.

Ch. Azhar Hussain filed an FIR under section 489-F PPC at B-Division police station, Gujrat on November 4, 2020, for fraud of Rs5 million.

What did Bukharis do with the money

An inquiry into the matter showed that Syed Abuzar Bukhari and his wife Noureen had registered multiple companies with the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The companies maintained a very high turnover, along with individual and company bank accounts through which they defrauded customers.

They would take an advance from customers in their accounts and later transfer the sum to the accounts of their family members and to other family-owned businesses.

Some money was also sent abroad to the UK for personal/family use.

Hence, the culprits were also booked under Anti-Money Laundering Act, of 2010.