FIA gets remand of Pakistani trader in Chinese importer fraud case

A judicial magistrate has remanded a Pakistani trader arrested for an alleged fraud with a Chinese company in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for interrogation.

Syed Zeeshan Afzaal Bilgrami has been booked for allegedly defrauding a Chinese importer of over Rs114 million by shipping clay and gravel in 60 containers instead of a mineral.

The investigating officer produced the suspect before the judicial magistrate (South) and requested his physical remand for questioning. Accepting the IO’s request, the magistrate handed over the suspect to FIA for five days.

The FIA Corporate Crime Circle lodged an FIR on the complaint of a Chinese national, Corrine (Yunyan) Chen, through her authorised attorney Faisal Saleem.

According to the content of the FIR, M/s Danzu Traders, owned by Zeeshan, and M/s Jiangsu Provincial Foreign Trade Corporation China had signed a purchase and sales contract, under which Danzu Traders agreed to export 1,500 metric tons of chrome ore lumpy. On February 11, 2024, the Pakistani trader, after completing all formalities, shipped a consignment of 20-foot 60 bulk containers stuffed with zero-valued goods i.e. clay, gravel and stones, instead of chrome ore lumpy from the Karachi port to the Xingang Port.

It alleged that before the shipment reached China, Zeeshan fraudulently executed the Letter of Credit and embezzled the export proceeds amounting to $413,293.

The FIA said that the inspection certificate of quality and weight deposit submitted by the suspect with the bank for executing the LC in his favour turned out to be fabricated and bogus. The export proceeds received in the trader’s account converted to Rs113,886,298.29 after deduction of taxes, it added.

“Syed Zeeshan Afzaal Bilgrami not only committed an export fraud but also committed a banking fraud by submitting forged, fabricated and bogus documents for executing the Letter of Credit [LC] in its favour. He not merely defrauded the Chinese importer but also brought a bad name to the nation,” said the FIA.

The case has been lodged under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 109 (abetment) of Pakistan Penal Code.