KARACHI: Cars financed by banks being smuggled out
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, Feb 26: The leasing and banking sector is being defrauded of millions of rupees as scores of cars financed by it are being smuggled to Afghanistan every month by unscrupulous clients, it is learnt.
Sources said the crime circle of the Federal Investigation Agency had launched an investigation into the racket after it received complaints from the sector, though no arrest had so far been made.
They said the defrauded banks lodged the complaints with the FIA when the insurance companies turned down their claims of such vehicles after establishing that the customer himself was involved in the theft or smuggling of the vehicle.
An official of the insurance company, who wished not to be named, told Dawn that the financed vehicles were also being smuggled to the interior of Sindh, besides being smuggled to the neighbouring country via Chaman.
An FIA investigator said that one of the complaints lodged by the banks involved a 23-year-old son of a police official, who had acquired four cars on a leasing basis from different banks.
He said the young man, living in a 120-square-yard house, got the delivery of the vehicle after the installation of the tracker device on May 9, 2007. “Later, on June 21, 2007 the vehicle was taken out of Karachi to Chaman after proper authorization from the tracker company,” he added.
The investigator said that later the suspect reported his vehicle stolen in Soldier Bazaar in Karachi on July 11, 2007 though the tracker record showed that the vehicle was in Chaman from June 23 to July 11, 2007.
According to the tracker company’s record, he said, the vehicle was last reported in Afghanistan on Oct 3, 2007, but the signal was very weak as it was a non-GSM coverage area.
He said the tracker record showed that the battery of the vehicle was tampered with at least seven times in Chaman before the tracker was finally deactivated.
The investigator said the tracker company call record showed that it tried to contact the customer every time it received a battery tamper alarm and the customer told the company that he was trying to install a stereo in the vehicle.
A bank official said at least 10 expensive cars financed by different banks were being illegally sold by the customers themselves who later lodged false hijacking reports.
He said a large number of cars were being obtained on fake documents which were verified with the connivance of bank staff.
“Most of the banks do not want any legal action against such crooks as the investigation can also involve their own staff,” he remarked.
He said some car dealers were involved in the disposal of bank-financed cars in the interior of Sindh. “They first get the vehicle financed from a bank on fake documentation, take the vehicle outside Karachi after proper authorization from the tracker company, dismantle the tracker device and lodge a fraudulent report of car theft,” he added.
An official of a Gulf-based bank told Dawn that they had recently referred some cases to the FIA for legal action against those who obtained the cars on fake documents.
He said a Toyota Altis MT was financed by the bank on May 28, 2007 and it was handed over to the client after installation of a tracker device.
The official said the tracker company record showed that the vehicle disappeared from Karachi after June 13, 2007 and it was reported in Khuzdar, Balochistan, on June 17.
He said the bank’s initial investigation revealed that the customer had made fake setups and gave the bank bogus home and office addresses.
He said the tracker device was decommissioned and there was no further information about the location of the vehicle.
