KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Dr. Mehreen Bhutto has finally struck a compromise with a businessman after a falling out during which the MNA registered a fraud case against the latter for fraudulently declaring her partner in a business venture. The MNA is already facing FIA inquiry into assets beyond means.
According to the official documents (available with The News) PPP parliamentarian Dr. Mehreen Bhutto along with her three brothers is facing an inquiry from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about accumulating wealth beyond known sources of income that included partnering with a travel agency. Bhutto had lodged a fraud case against her business partner, his spouse and other family members.
MNA Mehreen Bhutto lodged an FIR at Clifton Police Station, Karachi, on August 4, 2022, against her business partner Asadullah Shaikh, his wife and other directors of M/s AAA Travels for enlisting her as one of the directors of the business without her knowledge and consent and blamed them for misusing her CNIC, passport and other documents. Bhutto in her FIR quoted a news story published in ‘The News’ on August 4, 2022, to claim that she came to know through a news report that she was a director at AAA Travels and claimed it was all done without her explicit knowledge. She also claimed that she neither signed any document nor received any benefits from the company.
The case was sent to the Court of Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate-V, Karachi South, Mazhar Ali for trial, where after some hearings the judge accepted the compromise application filed by MNA Bhutto by informing the court that a compromise has taken place with her ‘rival’ group. During the pendency of the trial, the accused Asadullah Shaikh told the court that the case against him and his family was fake and was registered using her political influence. He told the court that MNA Bhutto was a willful partner who regularly received monetary benefits but disassociated herself from the business when the FIA started an inquiry against her. The court approved the settlement on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
The FIA initiated the inquiry in 2019 against the PPP MNA when in 2014, a complaint was filed against MNA Mehreen Bhutto and his three brothers alleging mega corruption. During that period, despite many notices served under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) MNA Bhutto did not appear before FIA, Sindh, Zone-II. Following the application of out-of-court settlement in October, MNA Bhutto and her three brothers appeared before the enquiry officer FIA-Sindh Zone-II and recorded their statements.
This reporter approached MNA Bhutto and her business partner Asad Shaikh for their versions, called at their cell numbers, and then sent them detailed text messages at their WhatsApp number but till the filling of this news story, both avoided responding.
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