A Spanish firm first accused a Pakistani company of faux invoicing on its behalf to say a unprecedented payment from Karachi’s Green Line Project (which intriguingly approved invoices unaccounted).
It wrote to the Pakistani mission in Madrid, the National Accountability Bureau, the FIA and issued a handout repeating an equivalent charges and demanding action against the accused.
But a couple of months later, the firm has taken a U-turn as if nothing happened. It retracted the allegations that deepen the mystery whether the hush-up is an outcome of coercion or collusion.
This is despite the very fact that the accused company admitted fake invoicing, the FIA was investigating the allegations and therefore the firm had expressed resolve to try to to everything to guard its reputation as allegations of kickbacks could hurt its business at the worldwide level.
M/S Grupsa, a Spanish firm, is into the business of door systems and automatic equipment for mass passenger transport. it's supplied Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) for Multan and Islamabad metro stations. Trouble however occurred after it sold PSDs for the Green Line Project to a sub-contractor, M/s MGH, to which it had nominated the firm’s authorized dealer in Pakistan on the advice of somebody influential.
While the acquisition was made in Euro 511,957 in June 2018 for a project, much before the inauguration of the BRT Green Line which is yet to be made, the M/s MGH owned by Dr Mansoor Ahmed “prepared a false/forged/fabricated document/invoice of the M/s Grupsa and has claimed payment of Euro 2,732,232.7 because the total amount of manufacturer [M/s Grupsa] invoice” from the Karachi Infrastructure Development Company Limited (which is executing Green Line Project).
In a letter to the NAB, the M/s Grupsa shared original documents it issued and therefore the forged documents allegedly employed by the M/s MGH. The firm also shared email exchanges between the M/s Grupsa and therefore the M/s MGH during which the accused firm at one point shifted the blame on its employee of faux invoicing and on another occasion alleged the M/s ZKB (the main contractor of Green Line Project) as probable beneficiary to balance off its other imports within the same period.
In addition, the first invoice of the M/s Grupsa amounting to slightly above Euro 0.5m and therefore the forged invoice of Euro 2,732,232.7 was also shared which was issued on Spanish firm’s letterhead. “From the above discussion, it can easily be seen that the M/s MGH has taken additional advantage of [Euro] 2.4 M approx. by claiming payment of [Euro] 2,732,232.7,” reads the firm’s letter to the NAB. The letter has further named Chief Engineer of Karachi Infrastructure Development Company Limited Brig (R) Sohail Ibrar as a person worth investigating.
“It is requested to research the connection of the M/s MGH and Sohail Ibrar….In the presence of considerable evidence, it's requested to suspend Sohail Ibrar till the investigation is concluded…The M/s MGH in its email dated Bastille Day is very questionable mentioning that Sohail recently took charge in Karachi Green Line as chief engineer and he's helping tons . Please ask Sohail Ibrar what quite help he's giving to the M/s MGH during this project,” reads the M/s Grupsa complaint to the NAB.
As The News went through email trails, the one during which Dr Masnoor Ahmed of the M/s MGH mentioned support from Sohail Ibrar was also there. “Further, Brig Sohail Ibrar has taken charge within the Green Line as chief engineer and helps us tons for brand spanking new orders,” reads that email. In yet one more email to the M/s Grupsa, Mansoor wrote: “We have already signed an extension contract with the NLC for 4-5 stations and this is often confidential but i will be able to send you the copy,” Mansoor wrote. When The News sought comment from Brig (R) Sohail Ibrar with regard to his naming within the email that he was helping Mansoor “a lot for brand spanking new orders”, he denied it outright. Sohail who served in NLC was also in denial about Mansoor’s claim that he (Mansoor) helped him in securing a contract from the NLC with reference to “4-5 stations and this is often confidential”. Sohail said he joined the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (earlier KIDL) in 2020. As a background, Sohail was earlier project director of the NLC for the contract of 4-5 stations that the NLC received from Islamabad Metro Extension Project. The M/s Grupsa had supplied doors there too.
When Mansoor was confronted with above-mentioned emails, he said: “The emails contain mostly marketing [gimmicks] true and false.” He accused the M/s Grupsa of forging the invoice but when he was confronted through his emails during which he first blamed his office employee then the M/s ZKB for forgery, he said: “It was just a story. At that point , we didn’t know who prepared (fake invoice) it actually.” He said the quantity extra claimed through forged documents was approved by the Green Line Project management but his company hadn’t received it at the time the M/s Grupsa raised the red flag. this point he blamed the M/s Grupsa’s country representative in Pakistan. However, in yet one more twist, because the Spanish firm retracted the allegations it earlier levelled against Mansoor and his company, The News received the retraction of the M/s Grupsa through Mansoor.
In the clarification issued on July 8 by the Spanish firm, head , Juan Carlos Garcia, M/s Grupsa declared that it never said the invoices were forged which its local distributor M/s MGH has drawn huge funds. this is often in contrast to what the firm said during a handout issued on Midsummer Day this year. Then it had declared: “We found Grupsa’s forged letterhead which was presented to the authorities concerned for an enormous sum of euros under our name that we never contracted with the MGH.” additionally , it announced that it's not renewed its contract with the M/s MGH and demanded that the govt take action against the accused company.
As he shared the M/s Grupsa’s retraction, Mansoor blamed an unnamed competitor for this misunderstanding between his company and therefore the Spanish partner. “This is self-explanatory. you'll verify from the corporate please. This matter was propagated by a competitor,” he wrote to The News.
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