 PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director in a writ petition filed by the victim of an international lottery scam. Muhammad Taomoor Zia had filed the petition against a Spanish company, Sorteo De Navidad Espana, claiming that the company informed through a letter that he had won 450,000 euros and asked him to send them Rs 450,000 in delivery/tax charges in order to get his cheque, which, he said, never arrived.
| Either the company doesn't exist at all, which is most likely, or it's a legitimate company with Nigerians sending out letters in its name. |
A two-member PHC bench, consisting of justices Qaim Jan Khan and Ejaz Afzal, heard the case on Friday and asked the FIA director to explain the department’s position in the case, saying, “It is the vested duty of FIA (a statutory body established under FIA Act, 1974 on 13 Jan 1975, replacing the Pakistan Special Police Establishment) to investigate such cases”.
| I'd suggest sending the ISI after the perps and killing them. |
Zia, resident of Peshawar, has made several parties to the petition that are: the government of Pakistan through chief secretary Islamabad, FIA through DG FIA Islamabad and director FIA Peshawar, the NWFP government through the home secretary, secretaries foreign and interior affairs of Pakistan and the Wall Street Money Gram Exchange Company Limited through its Chowk Yadgar Peshawar City branch director.
| I'm not sure whether he's taking them to court or if they're joining him in the petition against the scam artistes. The Wall Street Money Gram Exchange might possibly be involved, but likely they're an innocent bystander, too. They should be able to provide the address the money was wired to, though it's doubtful the Keystone Kops could actually follow it up. |
The petitionerÂ’s counsel said that Zia had received a letter dated March 1, 2006 in which he was informed he had won prize from a total amount of 26,756,820 euros that would be shared among other international winners. The petitioner was then asked to deposit 4,550 euros through the Wall Street Money Gram company through its Peshawar branch, which were then deposited in the name of Sorteo De Navidad Espana SL through its director program Antonio Reyes Alvaro, Madrid.
| Right. Zia won umpty million Euros without even having to go to the trouble of buying a ticket. Due to a mixup in the numbers he was cautioned not to brag about his winning. Zia was also dropped on his turban when very young and unable to scratch his actual head when informed that he had to pay a deposit to receive his unexpected winnings. |
After sending the required money, nothing has yet been heard from the company, the counsel said. |