US fugitive faces another case for fake documents

Shahid Aslam

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday registered another case against an American fugitive, Amer Ahmed, also wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the charges of having fake national identity card of Pakistan.

The FIA investigators had confiscated Amer’s NIC from his possession when he landed at Allama Iqbal Airport last Monday. The ID card was issued from Chakwal district in 1998.

Amer, former Deputy Treasurer Ohio, told the investigators that he had come to Pakistan in 1997 and submitted his necessary documents with the National Database and Registration Authority’s Chakwal office to get his card. Subsequently, he said, NADRA had issued him a card, manually, when he was in the US.

The FIA authorities on Monday confirmed that his ID card was fake as his parents, Shamim Ahmad, father and Riffat Ahmad, mother, got their CNICs with an address house number 135, Khyaban-e-Ghazi, Phase-VI of Karachi. They asked how he get could his identity card from a district in Punjab. The officials then registered another FIR against him under section 30 5 (2) 47 of NADRA Ordinance 2000. Under the charges, Amer could face a term which may extend to one year, or with fine not exceeding one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.

It is pertinent to mention here that FIA has already registered an FIR (417/

14) against him under different sections 419, 420, 468 and 471 of Pakistan Penal Code.

FIA officials also contacted NADRA administration of Chakwal on the matter and demanded all the record related to Amer. The NADRA officials, according to an FIA official, have informed that they had sent all the record to NADRA Islamabad before the authority had started issuing computerized identity cards.

To a question, a senior FIA official claimed that strict actions would also be taken against all the NADRA officials of Chakwal who had arranged identity card of Amer in 1998 in his absence because, as per law, his presence in the country was necessary when the card was issued.

On Monday, FIA authorities also retrieved chat record of Amer Ahmed and Faisal, the man who arranged him the fake birth certificate against $ 250, before Amer could travel to Pakistan from Mexico. The record shows that Faisal, original name Asif Aman Ullah from Sindh, had asked Amer to send him his Pakistani passport or other related documents. Amer denied having all of the documents. He then assured him to arrange a birth certificate for him from Lahore against $250. Their chatting continued from April 24 to April 25. On the other hand, FIA authorities Monday produced Amer before a court of a judge, Mazhar Hussain Ramay, and allowed one-day more remand of him. Now Amer would be produced again in the court on Tuesday (today). Interestingly, no one represented Amer in the court.

FIA authorities have also submitted all the recovered money from Amer’s possession, $ 176, 000 and 12, 4000 Euros, worth millions of rupees, in the State Bank of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Federal Law Ministry authorities have explained the legal position in the case of Amer to FIA authorities in details.

According to them, if parents of any kid are Pakistani nationals, then the kid (s) born in Pakistan would automatically be the Pakistani nationals. They said if parents of any kid(s) are dual nationals and the kids are born outside Pakistan then they have to seek the nationality. It means that Amer, if he seeks nationality, would be a Pakistani national even if his birth may not have been taken place in the country of his parents, Pakistan.

When contacted, FIA Acting Director General Ghalib Ali Bandesha said the case of Amer Ahmed is being treated as per law of the land.

To a question as to how and when Amer could be deported or repatriated back to the US as the letter was pressing hard for the repatriation, Bandesha said the US government would submit an application to the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the FIA through the ministry would put the same request before the court which would decide whether the accused should be deported or first face the trial in Pakistan and then be deported back to US for his pending trial there.

FIA officials also hinted that though there was no extradition treaty between Pakistan and the US, there are certain provisions under which both countries have cooperated with each other in transferring certain people from one country to another.

They said former Bank of Punjab (BoP) president Hamesh Khan, an accused of billions of rupees, was a dual national of the US and Pakistan but was deported back to Pakistan by the former in 2010. Interpol had also issued red warrants of Hamesh like it issued same for Amer which became a vehicle in the transfer of Hamesh to Pakistan. He opined that the same could happen in Amer’s case as well. The decision of the court would be very crucial for any development in this regard, he added.

Amer Ahmad after getting a bachelor degree from Columbia University and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University worked in the financial markets and was hired as a top aide in the Ohio treasurer’s office under Democrat Richard Cordray. He was promoted to deputy treasurer by Democrat Kevin Boyce but left the office after Boyce lost the election to Republican Josh Mandel in 2010.

During the Boyce administration, Ahmad masterminded a scheme that steered $3.2 million in commissions to a high school friend in exchange for $523,000 in kickbacks to Ahmad and two co-conspirators. Amer pleaded guilty in December 2013 to conspiracy and bribery charges and faces 15 years in federal prison. A federal judge in Ohio issued his red warrant on 25th of April and the U.S. marshals started a manhunt for him.

Source: thenews