Jail if forex firms’ cheques bounce again: LHC

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court, hearing a petition against the working of foreign exchange companies on Friday, said their directors would be sent to jail if their cheques made out to investors bounced again.

The petition was filed by a depositor who told the court that a cheque issued to him by a foreign exchange company had bounced. The court also adjourned the hearing of applications filed by four brokerage companies seeking time to pay their depositors till October 13. The companies include Rauf International, Bulls and Bears and Pindex International. They said they were ready to pay their depositors but needed time to arrange the money.

The court also placed the names of the directors of M/s Nexus Company on the Exit Control List on a request by counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Khwaja Saeed-uz-Zafar.

During a previous hearing, Bulls and Bears had submitted that it had discharged all its liabilities and now wished to advertise in newspapers for depositors to contact them if it owed any money. The court directed the company to prepare the advertisement and get it approved by Mr Zafar before getting it published.

The SECP had filed a petition against nine companies allegedly involved in the trade of foreign currencies and functioning as brokerage house without obtaining licenses.

The court has already ordered to freeze the accounts of the nine companies which include Harvest International, World Business Consultants Private Limited, United Brokerage Consultants Private Limited, Bulls and Bears Private Limited, Forex International Services Private Limited, Trade Stations Securities Private Limited, Rauf International Private Limited and Offshore Global Management Private Limited.

In an earlier order, the court had put the names of the directors of these companies on the Exit Control List. The names of the directors are Muhammad Gulraiz and Shahrukh Saeed of Harvest International, Waheed Ahmad and Muhammad Ibrar of Pindex, Muhammad Asad Kamran, Adnan Qayyum, Misbah Iqbal, Usman Farooq, Muhammad Ajmal Lateef, Anjum Lateef and Majid Saleem of United Brokerage Consultants, Shahid Hussain Awan, Dr Hassan Akhtar, Majid Rasheed and Zubair of Bulls and Bears. Major (r) M Saleem Khan, Ch Farooq Azam, Kashif Iqbal and Amjad Ihsan of World Business Consultants, Shoaibullah Cheema, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Shoaib Amin of Forex International Services, Muhammad Khurram Shahazad and Shumaila Ilyas of Trade Stations Securities, Haroon Ahmad and Shaheena of Rauf International and the directors of Offshore Global Management.

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