Habib Bank Limited Pakistan misrepresents Agricultural Loan Case, alleges Khalid Memon

Article is based on Excerpts taken from news published in Daily Juraat Newspaper of 19 December 2008 and through interviews with various persons involved in this case.

In 1994, Late Senator Aijaz Jatoi, Khalid Ahmed Memon and Burzin Pajnigara decided to form a Joint Venture Fish Farm with equal shares and purchased a natural lake in Sujawal, Thatta, Sindh, Pakistan. The total area exceeded 500 acres.

In 1995, Senator Aijaz Jatoi decided to obtain a loan from the local branch of Habib Bank Limited for his personal use and succeeded. The loan was wrongfully obtained through political influence from Habib Bank Ltd,. Sujawal Branch, Thatta, against mortgage of agriculture land / Fish Farm of 3 employees, who had already given the Power of Attorney of the mortgaged land to Mr. Khalid Ahmed Memon as his rightful share in the Fish Farm Joint Venture. As Khalid Memon was a defaulter in Habib Bank Loan to Sindh Motors Gasoline Station, he could neither take a loan nor be a Guarantor for any bank loan, even though Khalid Memon had sold off his share of the Gasoline Station, he was still listed as a Partner. The Sindh Motors loan was later fully paid to Habib Bank Limited.

As such, Burzin Pajnigara and another friend Mr. Bashir Lehri signed the loan agreement as the two guarantors required by the bank. Khalid Memon and Farm Manager Master Ahmed Mallah were asked to sign as witnesses, even though there was no indication of any witnesses signatures required on the original loan agreement nor was there any designated column for witnesses. On the Bank Manager’s insistence, Khalid Memon and Master Ahmed Mallah signed on the top right hand corner of the loan agreement.

Senator Aijaz Jatoi sadly passed away in September 1997.

Habib Bank staff started pestering Khalid Memon to pay off loan and visited his residence several times in 1999. Khalid Memon reminded them that he was not a guarantor and that they were fully aware of the recipient of the loan. Then HBL Zonal Branch Hyderabad took the matter to the Banking court and wrongly included the name of Khalid Memon as Defendant. A notice was also published in a local newspapers wrongly incriminating Khalid Memon. And finally Khalid Memon was ordered by the Banking Court to attend a hearing. Khalid Memon sat outside the Banking Court office bench like a common criminal for 3 hours before his name was shouted out. The Judge was very stern and rude and when he explained that he was not involved in this loan and that Habib Bank had misrepresented the whole case, he was asked to show his identity card by the Judge. When he did, the Judge immediately compared his signature with another on some documents and vehemently told him that he was a liar and defaulter and that his signature appeared as Guarantor on the three loan agreement documents. And then the Judge showed Khalid Memon a copy of the original documents.

Khalid Memon looked at the document in utter shock and disbelief. This copy of the loan agreement was forged and amended. Habib Bank staff had removed one of the guarantor’s signature from the document, made a copy of his signature and had pasted the same showing him as one of the guarantors in all three loans.

Khalid Memon was in such deep shock that he could not think or defend myself. He started shaking and stuttering and then had to listen to a long lecture by the Judge which of course was very humiliating and insulting, directed towards him. He quickly did as the Judge ordered and was coerced to write an application asking for time to settle the loan. His mind was numb and he got out of the Judge’s office as quickly as possible.

Khalid Memon became depressed for a long time as he had not only suffered humiliation and insults and treated like a common criminal, but for a very long time he could not understand why a reputed bank such as Habib Bank Ltd., would stoop to such a level as to misrepresent and forge a loan document of such a meager amount. Was this part of a greater plan? Were the bank staff colluding and plotting with Dhani Bux Jatoi s/o Late Aijaz Jatoi, so that he could take over the entire land?

On contacting the Jatoi family about this terrible ordeal, he was threatened to keep quiet and not to malign the Jatoi family’s name or else…..

Khalid Memon fell ill after this terrible dilemma and now suffers from insomnia and hypertension. He was so shocked by this experience that he could not tell anyone or make any complaints until recently, when his name was splashed again over the newspapers for all to see. He received several phone calls from friends and felt embarrassed and humiliated. Was there no end to the evil and nefarious designs of the bank staff responsible for this unimaginable fraud and deception?

Through the help of friends and advisors, he has summed up the courage to tell his side of the story. Khalid Memon is the rightful owner of the land to be auctioned and the sale proceeds are rightfully his.

Habib Bank Limited staff had not only falsely implicated Khalid Memon as a Guarantor, maligned and defamed him, but had the audacity to show the three Jaoi’s as owners of this land and had made full arrangements so that the balance of the sale proceeds from the auction of the land after recovery of the loan would go to the Jatoi family instead of the rightful owner and partner.

Khalid Memon hired a lawyer Mr. Mohd. Ishaque Qureshi, whose clever and strong arguments in the Banking Court on the day the auction was to be held, convinced the Honourable Judge of the Banking Court to postpone the Auction. This judgment is historical as this is the first auction case which has been suspended on the day of the auction.

Now Khalid Memon plans to file several cases both civil and criminal against Habib Bank Limited for defamation and damages to the tune of Rs. 100 million.