BY : Miqal Qayyun Khawaja.
Huston TX USA : US authorities are probing Pakistani-American businessman Tahir Javed and his associates over suspected COVID-19 related money laundering, wire fraud, and links to a murder case in Pakistan
he was removed as the advisor to Interim Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar just days after his appointment, after it emerged that Javed had previously been convicted of a felony in the US that he had not declared to Pakistani authorities
Evidence gathered by American investigators suggests that Javed had allegedly agreed to purchase 55% membership/ownership/interest in Mecca Farms on a fully diluted basis with the ownership interest in Mecca Farms for $2.465 million.
The purchase price to be paid at the closing of the contract was $500,000, while “the balance will be paid as and when needed by Mecca Farms within five (5) days of the date on which Mecca Farms requests such amounts”.
Investigators believe that this scheme was a hoax.
According to the documents obtained by investigators, Javed allegedly claimed to have paid $200,000 of the total purchase price. The balance of $2.245 million has yet to be paid.
The federal investigators – who suspect that the deal is linked with the alleged cover-up of the $35 million COVID-19 relief scheme scandal – say Ali allegedly conspired with Javed.
The takeover agreement, reportedly made by Javed and which would see him take over as the chairman of the Board of Managers, would see a board consisting of managers and members, mostly from Houston, that include: Mohammad Shahid Javed; M. Israr Ahmad; Dr Amir-ul Islam; Syed Rashid Ali; Sayed Hamed; Syed Shahid Ali; Shaista J Ali; Soraya Harris; Syed Shahid Ali; Naghman Shaikh; Hassouneh Maher Ezzuddin; Tahira Faiz Ahmed; Francisco Bernal; Danish Hussain/Fraz Hussain/Faiza Hussain; Mobin Khan; Faraz Hussain; Kalesha Skaik; Sujath Ali Syed; Keith Mohammad; Tarek Al-Kadri; and Khalida Siddiqui.
American authorities believe that the structure established for Mecca Farms raises suspicions and grounds for further investigations.
Brothers Syed Rashid Ali and Syed Shahid Ali and the brothers Tahir Javed and Shahid Javed are allegedly involved in the scheme. Shahid Ali and Shahid Javed have been partners in several financial deals in the past, and the authorities are investigating their past dealings.
What led to the probe?
Investigators say the probe is linked to the $35 million COVID-19 relief scheme corruption scandal of December 2021, in which a federal grand jury in Houston had charged and sentenced several individuals for fraudulently obtaining and laundering millions of dollars under the forgivable Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
In total, 15 individuals across two states were charged in the conspiracy. According to court documents, Syed Shahid Ali (from Sugar Land, Texas) allegedly conspired with others to submit more than 80 false and fraudulent PPP loan applications by falsifying the number of employees and the average monthly payroll expenses of the applicant businesses.
In total, the defendants sought over $35 million in PPP loans and obtained approximately $18 million in PPP loan proceeds. They then committed wire fraud, theft, money laundering, and embezzlement.
The indictment alleged that the defendants laundered a portion of the fraudulent loan proceeds by writing cheques from companies that received PPP loans to fake employees.
The investigators claimed that, per the charges, some of those who received the cheques were the defendants and their relatives. Even before going to trial, almost all of the accused pleaded guilty to their involvement in the scheme of wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
The investigators say the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force—established by the Attorney General in May 2021—marshalled the Department of Justice’s resources in partnership with agencies across the government to prosecute the alleged fraud. They added that the accused are also helping the federal investigators in this probe, focussing on the Javed brothers, the Ali brothers, and their accomplices.
$566,778 and $522,800 through Riceland. He claimed he offered free Covid shots to the community through his hospital, and the federal government paid him $35 per patient. The investigators accused Tahir Javed and Shahid Ali of working in cahoots and that Shahid Ali allegedly took an indictment on him to protect his partner, Tahir Javed.
