KARACHI: After multiple attempts to implicate Chairman PTI Imran Khan in Toshakhana case turned futile both at the legal front (Election Commission and courts) and at public/media front, a name Umar Farooq Zahoor popped up last evening at a private TV channel claiming that he bought an expensive Graff wristwatch — gifted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to Imran Khan— for $2 million, worth approximately Rs280m at the time of sale in 2019.
Also read: PTI denies allegation of selling Toshakhana watch to wanted suspect
However, even before his appearance on TV, social media users rushed to dig out facts as they had alredy come to know about what was simmering behind the media curtains that was to explode at 10 pm last night.
Also read: Toshakhana Case: All you need to know
The most significant of all proved to be the second last tweet of Pakistan’s most prominent investigative journalist Arshad Sharif’s life, who was assassinated in Kenya on October 23, in the outskirts of Nairobi. He had named Umar Farooq Zahoor, his complaints against FIA officials that landed them into hot waters. The tweet clearly indicated that Arshad Sharif had come across to some information that was to make news headlines in the coming days.
عمر فاروق ظہور جنہوں نے #FIA کے متعدد افسران کے خلاف تھانہ سیکریٹریٹ میں ایف آی آر کٹوائی، ان کے حوالے سے عالمی تحقیقاتی رپورٹ-
سوال تو بنتا ہے کہ FIA کے متعدد افسران کیا اس لئے زیر عتاب ہیں کہ انھوں نے #ڈگی_والی_سرکار اور جہانگیر ترین کی تحقیقات کیں؟https://t.co/K9nPZUjxM1— Arshad Sharif (@arsched) October 23, 2022
Arshad Sharif also posted link of a news report that made startling revelations about intermediaries obtaining Corona Sputnik vaccine, re-selling it at a premium in countries including Ghana, Russia, Pakistan, Guyana and Iraq, and role of Umar Farooq Zahoor in these deals.
The news report revealed that Umar Farooq Zahoor Pakistani national, had for several years been closely associated with a Dubai-based Sheik who was the mastermind of scandal of purchasing Russian Sputnik Corona vaccine at cheaper rates and re-selling them at higher prices.
The report revealed that Umar Farooq Zahoor was wanted in Norway for what the police believe is his role in the spectacular Nordea fraud in 2010, where the conspirators emptied the account of a super-rich widow, and he was convicted of misappropriation in Norway. He absconded from Norway before the judgement was pronounced.
Besides that, Umar Farooq Zahoor was booked in a criminal case in Switzerland, where the limitation period of the case expired because the police was unable to get a hold of him. There, he was wanted for having started a fake bank.
Also, Zahoor was also accused in Pakistan of ‘smuggling out’ his children, in a case related to model Sophia Mirza, despite Court orders restricting his exit from the country.
Prominent Supreme Court lawyer Azhar Siddique Advocate has revealed on Twitter that Zahoor’s brother Usman Zahoor, and his brother in law Sheikh Saleem are also involved in money laundering.
سیالکوٹ سے تعلق رکھنے والے عمر فاروق ظہور کے ساتھ ساتھ اسکا بھائی عثمان ظہور اور ان کا بہنوئی شیخ سلیم منی لانڈرنگ سمیت کئی جرائم میں ملوث ہیں— pic.twitter.com/VMtrLRHIs5
— M Azhar Siddique (@AzharSiddique) November 15, 2022
