Daily Times

WASHINGTON: American Federal and State agencies are investigating two Pakistani American businessmen and their associates over suspected money-laundering, wire fraud and tax evasion for setting up dodgy company structures to launder the proceeds of purported black money, according to the investigators involved in the case.

Federal investigating authorities in the US have confirmed that two companies namely: Riceland Investment Group LP (a Texas limited partnership) and Mecca Farms Group LLC (a Texas limited liability company) are being investigated for setting up complex and questionable structures to avoid paying taxes and launder the suspected black money for the benefit of the individuals running and controlling these companies.

Riceland Investment Group was originally set up by Texas-based Syed Rashid Ali but the company entered into a dubious partnership in 2015 with Mecca Farms Group, owned by businessman and former Advisor to the Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Tahir Javed from Texas – making Tahir Javed full owner of Riceland Investment Group and giving him 51% control of Mecca farms.

According to the US investigators, the matter may not be as simple as it seems on paper.

Syed Rashid Ali, his brother Syed Shahid Ali and Muhammad Tahir Javed have a history of falling foul to American laws, involving fraud and embezzlement convictions that include a high-profile probe into the $35 million COVID-19 relief scheme scandal involving the US Justice Department.

The quagmire intensifies as Muhammad Tahir Javed, who has also served as a Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf leader in the US has been linked with a brutal murder plot of a close relative in Pakistan too, an allegation that he denies.

Javed’s professional career has been marred with controversy as he was removed as the Advisor to Interim Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar just days after his appointment, the notification being withdrawn due to a former conviction in the US he didn’t declare in Pakistan.

In this particular case, according to the evidence gathered by the investigators, it was agreed that Tahir Javed (the ‘Investor’ and the convicted felon) would purchase 55% membership/ownership interest in Mecca Farms on a fully diluted basis with the ownership interest in Mecca Farms for $2,465,000.00.

The purchase price to be paid at the closing of the contract was $500,000, stating: “and the balance will be paid as and when needed by Mecca Farms within five (5) days of the date on which Mecca Farms requests such amounts”.

Investigators believe that this scheme was a hoax.

According to the documents at the centre of the investigation, Muhammad Tahir Javed has claimed he has paid $200,000 of the total purchase price but evidence shows that the balance amount of $2,245,000 has not been paid.

The federal investigators – who suspect that the scandal is linked with the cover up of the $35 million COVID-19 relief scheme scandal – say that Syed Rashid Ali has conspired with Tahir Javed in the cover up conspiracy.

The takeover agreement made Muhammad Tahir Javed as the Chairman of the Board of Managers with a board of managers consisting of managers and members, mostly from Houston that include: Mohammad Shahid Javed; M. Israr Ahmad; Dr. Amir-ul Islam; Syed Rashid Ali; Sayed Hamed; Syed Shahid Ali; Shaista J Ali; Soraya Harris; Syed Shahid Ali; Naghman Shaikh; Hassouneh Maher Ezzuddin; Tahira Faiz Ahmed; Francisco Bernal; Danish Hussain/Fraz Hussain/Faiza Hussain; Mobin Khan; Faraz Hussain; Kalesha Skaik; Sujath Ali Syed; Keith Mohammad; Tarek Al-Kadri; and Khalida Siddiqui.

The structure established for Mecca Farms raises suspicions and grounds for the investigation, American authorities believe.

Syed Rashid Ali and Syed Shahid Ali are real brothers and are part of the scheme; as are real brothers Tahir Javed and Shahid Javed. In several financial deals, Shahid Ali and Shahid Javed, brother of Tahir Javed, have been partners and their past dealings are also under probe too, papers reveal.

What has led American investigators to start such a high-profile probe?

Investigators have confirmed that the latest probe is linked to the $35 million COVID-19 relief scheme corruption scandal of December 2021 in which a federal grand jury in Houston charged and sentenced several individuals for fraudulently obtaining and laundering millions of dollars in the forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

In total, 15 individuals across two states were charged in the conspiracy. According to court documents, Syed Shahid Ali (of Sugar Land, Texas) conspired with others to submit more than 80 false and fraudulent PPP loan applications by falsifying the number of employees and the average monthly payroll expenses of the applicant businesses.

In total, the defendants sought over $35 million in PPP loan funds and obtained approximately $18 million in PPP loan proceeds and then committed wire fraud, theft, money laundering and embezzlement.

The indictment had alleged that the defendants laundered a portion of the fraudulent loan proceeds by writing cheques from companies that received PPP loans to fake employees.

Those who received cheques included some of the defendants and their relatives, according to the charges. Even before going to the trial, almost all of the accused pleaded guilty for their involvement in the scheme of wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

The investigators say the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force – established by the Attorney General in May 2021 – that marshalled the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to prosecute the fraud accused are also helping the federal investigators in this probe, focussed on the Javed brothers, the Ali brothers and their accomplices.

Papers show that Sayed Shahid Ali took loan amounts of $566,778 and $522,800 through Riceland. He claimed he was offering free Covid shots to the community through his hospital but the federal government was paying him $35 per patient. The investigators are of the view that Tahir Javed and Shahid Ali were working in cahoots and Shahid Ali took indictment on him in order to protect his partner, Tahir Javed.

Thousands of miles away in the Toba Tek Singh District of Punjab, Pakistan authorities are investigating the murder of a poor villager in 2008.

Wahab Anwar, son of Anwar Ahmad, of village 308 GB of Tehsil Pir Mahal in Toba Tek Singh was killed in broad daylight. A handsome villager, his parents sent him to Lahore in early 2008 to work for Muhammad Tahir Javed and his wife Rubina Javed at their Lahore home. Suspecting an affair, Tahir Javed purportedly shot Wahab Anwar who died three days later succumbing to a gunshot. The police got involved but Tahir Javed made a plea bargain with the victim’s father by paying a significant amount. Javed also got the victim’s sister married to his nephew (sister’s son) and ensured the bride arrived in Texas shortly after the marriage. In Pakistani Diyat laws, blood money can be paid to avoid a murder conviction, provided that the victim’s heir(s) agree to forgive the accused. Currently, the victim’s sister is a resident of Jefferson County in the City Of Beaumont.

The murder case is now being reviewed by senior Pakistani investigators after Tahir Javed’s fraud and criminality were exposed in the Pakistani and international press. These reports also resulted in his removal as former caretaker premier Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar’s advisor. Former Interim PM Anwar Kakar’s office had formed a probe committee which found that Tahir Javed had hidden his felony and fraud conviction in the US at the time of becoming Kakar’s advisor in October 2023.

The committee had established that Tahir Javed had lied about his credentials, and he was sacked just a few weeks later from his position as “Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Investment” on the intelligence reports by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

Reports submitted to PM Kakar had said Tahir Javed had campaigned for Imran Khan and the PTI while the party was in power but he became a fierce critic of Imran Khan later on – calling Imran Khan a failure as PM whose only claim to fame is his celebrity status as a cricketer. This was believed to be done to pave the way for Javed to join the Kakar cabinet. The intelligence report also found that Muhammad Tahir Javed had pledged publicly to donate $50000 to former army chief General (rtd) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s fund for the flood victims in 2020 but the cheque bounced as it didn’t have the enough funds for clearance.

According to Texan court records, Tahir Javed was sentenced to five years of deferred imprisonment for felony theft in 1994. The Texas Jefferson County’s District Criminal Court data records Muhammad Tahir Javed’s felony theft as “Cause: 56447; offence date: 25 September 1990, Beaumont Tx; filing date: 5 November 1990; offence description, theft by receiving; probation amount: 5; and description: P/G Judge; and Deferred Completed: 28th of March 1994.”

In July 2017, Javed was warned of criminal prosecution, seizure or injunction by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The warning was issued over Royal Smoke LL, an online purveyor of tobacco and tobacco related products. At the same time, Royal Smoke was subjected to government intervention.

Tahir Javed was additionally cautioned against labelling and advertising outside the scope of the law and barring corrective measures could face criminal prosecution.

Continuing his career in public life, Muhammad Tahir Javed, in 2023 announced to run for the Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Position. However, he was slapped with a Texas Ethics Commission investigation – case SC 32306211, causing him to back out.

American agents confirmed that Tahir Javed’s conduct has been of interest to them for several years now.

In 2018, Tahir Javed ran for Congressional seat In Houston which he lost at the primary stage. Investigators reveal that the 2018 election campaign by Javed is also under investigation as Tahir Javed allegedly transferred the domicile of many of his family members and friends to the district he was running in to increase his vote base.

Informed sources further revealed that Tahir Javed made several dubious entries during his campaign to move funds from his company Riceland and then paying back to him under filing FEC-1209534, documents proving that Tahir Javed contributed $100,000 and $25,918 to his campaign.

Another document showed Tahir Javed contributing $553,416 in February of 2018. Later on, documents revealed that under the Political Action Committee (PAC) & Super PAC contributions, Tahir Javed lent money to his own company Riceland HealthCare in the amount of $1,304,556.

Furthermore on December 31, 2018 Tahir Javed forgave a loan of $250,000 to himself from the campaign funds. For the investigators, these are highly suspicious activities signalling high level money laundering.

A year later in 2019, Tahir Javed tried to make up for the losses by committing insurance fraud, according to the investigators. The federal agencies are investigating how Tahir Javed allegedly used his own hospital and had family members go through multiple surgeries by billing insurance companies. Interestingly, on the day when his family’s surgery was scheduled, social media showed them attending a social event which gave a red alert.

Now all of this is under investigation. If proven guilty, Tahir Javed will find another felony which may lead to his US citizenship revoked and he may also end up getting 15 years in jail and could potentially be deported back to Pakistan.

Investigators are also looking at another controversy involving a Pakistan Super League team, Lahore Qalandars which features a new financial scandal involving the amount of five hundred million rupees (Rs 500,000,000/$1.8 million). According to court papers filed in the State of Texas at Jefferson County, Muhammad Tahir Javed and his company TJ Properties (SMC-Private) Limited failed to fulfil contractual obligations for the sale of plots at a residential society in Pakistan.

Court papers show Muhammad Tahir Javed and his company along with Realtor Nine Limited entered as joint venture partners earlier this year into an agreement with Qalandars Marketing (Private) Limited for the marketing and sales rights as Titanium Partner of Qalandars City Project located at Lahore-Islamabad motorway at Kot Abdul Malik Interchange.

Tahir Javed and his partners agreed that the joint venture partners will design and plan the sales strategy for different types of markets including UK, USA, and the Middle East to implement it for marketing. Legal papers show Tahir Javed and Realtor Nine Limited failed to make the payment as agreed in the binding contract also failing to fulfil any contractual obligation which they had agreed to in the 17-pages long contract.

The case was fought in a Texan court as well as in Pakistan. After Lahore Qalandars hired a law firm in Houston, on the very first reply to his frivolous case, Tahir Javed not only withdrew his lawsuit but also apologised to avoid a lawsuit against him.

Lawyers acting for Lahore Qalandars have said they are considering further legal steps.

Sources claim that American federal agents have also communicated with Pakistani authorities pertaining to this case, however, they did not elaborate on the progress of the investigation.

Sources close to Tahir Javed and Syed Ali confirmed that federal investigating agencies were in touch with them but they announced the intention to fully defend the case. They claimed it was unfortunate that the new investigation was being linked to the $35 million COVID-19 relief fraud.