How many foreign companies Farah Gogi and her family own?

• Farah's family registered or acquired four companies in UK.
• Her wealth grew exponentially during Imran Khan's govt.
• Farah, her husband acquired company for money laundering purposes: sources. 

ISLAMABAD: Farhat Shahzadi — who is a close friend of former first lady Bushra Bibi and is commonly known as Farah Gogi — expanded her business and registered/incorporated companies in the United Kingdom along with her family during Imran Khan's premiership, The News reported Friday. 

Four companies were registered or acquired by Farah's family in the UK whose nature of business mentioned in the documents is SIC or dealing in real estate business. 

Three of them were registered or acquired by Farah's sister Musarat Khan and one by Farhat and her husband from 2019 to 2021. In total, Musarat owns or has owned around half a dozen companies in the UK.

Farah and her husband Ahsan Iqbal Jamil are facing serious corruption allegations and currently living abroad. But for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, who publicly defended Farah in a press conference, these allegations are merely political victimisation of the present government. 

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a case under the Anti-Money Laundering Act against her and the government is planning to bring them back to Pakistan through Interpol.

Farah's wealth grew exponentially during Khan’s regime. Her declared wealth increased by more than four times from 2018 onwards. Farah, her husband along with three other partners — one of the top medical doctors in the country — acquired a company Goldstar Euro Limited on May 14, 2020, in the United Kingdom.

Well-placed sources stated that Farah and her husband acquired the company for money laundering purposes in order to route the money. However, Jamil refuted these allegations.

Moreover, Musarat registered a company Black Apple Investments Limited on November 9, 2021. The documents available with The News show that the company deals in buying and selling real estate and management of real estate on a fee or contract basis.

Another company registered by Farah’s sister was Al Muez Limited on August 19, 2019. The company was established to deal in the real estate business.

The same name Al-Muez is being used by Farah as well. Al Muez is the brand name of Farah as she owns different companies with this name in Pakistan, including Al Muez Dairy. The FIA has also mentioned in its FIR that she acquired an industrial plot of 10.3 acres for Al Muez Dairy in the Faisalabad Industrial Zone at a subsidised rate.

Musarat acquired another company DMK Enterprises Limited on July 4, 2019. The company was dissolved in March 2021. Apart from this, she owned some other companies, including Dayyan Enterprises Limited, Maximum M K Tradings Ltd and DKhans Constructions Limited, etc.

The documents available with The News reveal that there is an inflow of money in the form of remittances in Farah, Jamil and Musarat's accounts. But no document shows the outflow. Farah received Rs4,190,400 foreign remittances whereas her sister received Rs84 million foreign remittances in two years.

It is important to note here that Farah's declared assets before Khan came into power were reported to be worth over Rs231 million in 2017. However, within the first three years of Khan’s government, Farah’s declared assets reached Rs971 million in 2021. Farah and her husband also availed themselves of the whitening of black money plan (Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019) in Khan’s government. Both of them had declared Rs328.7 million and Rs20 million respectively under the Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019.

When contacted, Jamil said: “The FIA’s FIR is completely political victimisation. interior minister, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, PM’s Adviser Ata Tarar along with other government representatives have publicly made such threats against Farhat Shahzadi. Time and again they mentioned the word Red Warrants in those threats.”

To a question about the acquisition of the company in the UK, Jamil said: “We were trying to build a hospital in Islamabad. But it did not proceed further than the planning. I was supposed to offer land to that hospital. It’s been a dead issue for a long. There were no properties attached to Eurostar, it was merely a corporation with assets in its name. Nor have we initiated any business with that company so far. We tried to expand the business but never moved forward on it."

“I think many doctors from abroad suggested that they will only participate in such companies. Many names came under consideration. It all remained in the planning stages. No financial transactions took place. I guaranteed the group that I would contribute to the land. I don’t have a single company working abroad. I told you it was a planning stage. The matter did not come to the point of land," he said when asked when the hospital was being built in Pakistan what the reason was for registering the company in the UK. 

Responding to a question about the proposed location of the hospital, he said: “We hadn’t finalised the exact location. Only if it had come to that stage. We are taxpayers and all properties and funds that came into question are declared and tax paid. There’s no evidence of the corruption of any sort. Why hurt everyone who even shook hands with us."

He asked this correspondent to include his version in detail. “Mr Durrani, I offered my honest answers to most of your questions. I expect honest relay of them,” he said.

The News also sent a detailed questionnaire to Musarat but she did not reply till the filing of the story.