Zarco Exchange Company Sealed Across Pakistan
In a shocking development, FIA raided, and sealed, Zarco Exchange Company outlets across Pakistan. The 727 outlets of Zarco, a leading money transfer company in Pakistan, were closed on money laundering allegations.
Zarco Exhcange Company, with its corporate headoffice in Lahore, is the oldest Western Union Money Transfer Agent in Pakistan. It has its branches and franchises across Pakistan and used to provide good customer service. However, recently things started to turn nasty and customers started complaining about the agents being short of funds or not making deliveries on time.
The Nation reported on August 02 that Civil Lines police in Lahore unearthed financial scam of Rs 1.25 billion and arrested nine employees of Zarco Exchange company for their involvement in the embezzlement of the money.
Interestingly, it was reported that the Police registered an FIR under sections 420,468,471,408/34 of PPC on the complaint of the ZARCO Exchange Company’s Chief Executive Lakhte Husnain. He in the application alleged that his company’s employees embezzled money of his company through ‘dummy accounts’.
Modus operandi of the arrested employees was that they used to misappropriate money through fictitious consumers by showing their fake NICs being sent from abroad. He said that they had also misused the money sent by a Western company through ZARCO.
Apparently the FIA got interested and sealed all offices of Zarco, perhaps to be on the safe side.
This is another high profile raid by the government since the closure Khanani and Kalia International, nine months back. While claims of hard evidence were made at that time, government is yet unable to make significant progress in that case. The directors of Khanani and Kalia are still in jail, with their franchises sealed across country and their employees eventually jobless. Does same fate follow Zarco Exchange? Only time will tell.
