Umer Farooq Zahoor has been exonerated from charges related to fake CNIC , kidnapping of his own twin daughters and passport offenses, according to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report.
No evidence links Umar Farooq Zahoor to the fake offences, resulting in his exoneration and termination from additional investigation, Joint Investigation (JIT) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) report reveals.
The JIT of three senior FIA directors constituted to investigate various charges, including kidnapping of his own daughters Zainab Umar and Zuhaira Umar, and other offenses against Dubai-based businessman Umer Farooq Zahoor, has given a clean chit after the probe.
The findings in the JIT report affirmed the innocence of Umar Farooq Zahoor, leading to his discharge from the case with no requirement for additional investigation or probe.
The JIT report states a lack of direct or credible evidence connecting accused Umer Farooq to the offense. Subsequently, Umar Farooq Zahoor is declared innocent and discharged from any additional investigation.
Umer Farooq, previously declared a Proclaimed Offender, contested the order's validity in Lahore High Court. Following this, he applied to FIA Lahore, seeking inclusion of his statement in the investigation and as part of his defense. This led to the formation of a JIT, and on October 16, 2023, Umar Farooq Zahoor and his twin daughters Zainab Umar and Zuhaira Umar landed at Islamabad International Airport and appeared before the JIT.
Both Zainab Umar and Zuhaira Umar recorded their statements before the JIT and later appeared before the Judicial Magistrate in Islamabad to reiterate under section 164 CrPC.
Both teenagers emphatically stated that they were not kidnapped or trafficked by their father and are happily living with him in Dubai. Their father is responsibly covering all their expenses, including education and health, they told the court. They expressed their desire to remain with their father and disassociated from their mother's allegations. They declared their father's innocence, refuting the claims in the FIR made by their mother Khushbakht Mirza (who is known as Sophia Mirza in the showbiz industry).
In 2019, Kush Bakhat Mirza, a resident of Cavalry Ground Lahore, submitted an application, claiming marriage to Umar Farooq in 2006 and the birth of twin daughters, Zainab Umar and Zunaira Umar, on 07.06.2007.
The couple separated in the same year and entered into litigation for guardianship rights of their twin daughters. During the guardian petition, custody was granted to Khush Bakht Mirza (mother), and on 20.05.2008, Umar Farooq (father) was permitted to meet the daughters for an hour each week.
In June 2009, Umer Farooq, with the help of a friend, allegedly kidnapped his twin daughters, Zainab Umar and Zunaira Umar. They were charged with using fake CNICs and passports for Umer Farooq's twin daughters, facilitating their unlawful immigration to Dubai in 2009.
While the custody litigation was on-going at the lower courts in Pakistan between Zahoor and Sophia Mirza, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Shariah court ruled on November 1, 2010 in favour of Zahoor and gave him absolute custody of the daughters.
Investigations established that the FIA was asked by Shahzad Akbar to help Sophia Mirza, the former wife of Zahoor. Umar Zahoor’s predicament started when the FIA Lahore Anti Human Trafficking Circle proceeded with registration of a criminal case against Zahoor on complaint of his ex-wife over allegations of kidnapping his own daughters. At the same time, the FIA Corporate Crime Circle Lahore also initiated an inquiry against Zahoor over allegations of fraud and money-laundering of around 16 billion Rupees on the complaint of the same complainant Khushbakht Mirza. The complainant accused Zahoor of being involved in a fraud of $89.2m in Oslo, Norway, in 2010 and another fraud involving an amount of $12m in Bern, Switzerland, back in the year 2004.
The complaint made its way to the PTI govt’s federal cabinet agenda via the Interior Ministry, being run then by Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) Chairman Mirza Shehzad Akbar, and the federal government gave a go-ahead to the FIA to probe the alleged fraud of over 16 billion Rupees by Umar Zahoor and his relative Saleem Ahmad.
In the pursuance of the false and frivolous criminal cases registered against Umar Farooq Zahoor: his name was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL); non-bailable warrants in one of the FIRs were obtained from the Court without fulfilling the legal requirements and on the basis of said non-bailable warrants, his passport and CNIC were blacklisted and Red Warrants were issued through INTERPOL by National Crime Bureau (NCB) Pakistan for arresting Mr Zahoor. The Constitution of INTERPOL does not permit issuance of red notices in the family and civil disputes, however; the FIA added heinous offences in the FIR registered against Mr. Zahoor in order to apprehend him through Interpol.
In the last year, Zahoor’s name was removed from the Interpol list and he has been cleared in all cases.
