News

Probe into Lahore housing scheme

Steve Hammond
19/12/2003

CLAIMS by a Greater Manchester woman that she has lost of over £13,000 in a housing development are being investigated by the Pakistani High Commission.
Interpreter Nighat Choudry says she paid a development company £13,500, a 50 per cent deposit on a home to be built on a new housing development outside Lahore.
But she says when she got suspicious and demanded her money back, the company, the Gilani Housing Corporation, refused to pay.
She claims in her last telephone conversation with the London-based company a spokesman said she would "never get her money back".
Mrs Choudry, who lives in Prestwich with her bus driver husband, has contacted two MPs who have taken up her case with the Pakistan High Commission which says it is investigating the development with the authorities in Pakistan.
Meanwhile Mrs Choudry says she has a letter from the Lahore Development Authority - the body responsible for planning decisions in the city - which states it has not approved of the alleged Gilani housing development and warns off UK based Pakistanis from investing in the scheme.
Said Mrs Choudry: "The scheme was advertised in a UK Pakistani paper and several of the big south Asian TV channels.
"I though it looked like a good investment and made an inquiry. We got several glossy brochures about the Lahore scheme and another one near Islamabad and instructed our bank to transfer the money to the company's bank account.
"But we were suspicious of the receipt we got for the money. It did not look genuine. So we asked for our money back. At first they said they would pay it back but nothing came. We rung constantly and were fobbed off. Finally they said we would not get our money back.
"I have contacted my local MP Ivan Lewis and the Glasgow MP Mohammed Sarwar and it appears that there are others in our predicament."
Mr Sarwar said he had taken up Mrs Choudry's allegations with the Pakistan High Commission.
He added "They are investigating this matter with the authorities in Pakistan. I have had one other person in Glasgow contact me about this development with a story similar to Mrs Choudry's and he says there are others. I can't say exactly what has been going on but it appears that these people have lost money."
An official at the Pakistan High Commission, Mohammed Niaz Butt, said he was concerned over the allegations. He said: "I have written to the authorities in Pakistan asking them to conduct an investigation and at this time I have had no reply."
A spokesman for Mr Lewis said they too had been promised an investigation by the High Commission. One TV company, PTV Prime, have stopped the Gilani advertisements since learning of the allegations.
At the Gilani Housing Corporation a spokesman said the senior executive who commented on company affairs was in Pakistan and would be back in the UK in three days time.
Contacted a week later a spokesman said the executive was still in Pakistan and would not be returning for "two years". He said he could not comment on Mrs Choudry's allegations.


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