Interpol removes Umar Farooq from wanted persons list

LONDON, Oct 14 (NNI): The Interpol on Friday removed businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor from the list of international wanted persons (Red Notice) in a high-profile a case started by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The Interpol had added Dubai-based businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor in the Red Notice database after an application moved by Zahoor’s former wife and actor Sophia Mirza (alias Khushbakhat Mirza) with help from Shahzad Akbar who had tasked the FIA to go after the Dubai-based businessman at all costs.
The General Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) in Lyon has confirmed that Umar Farooq Zahoor is no longer subject to an Interpol Notice or diffusion, a private television channel reported Friday.
The Interpol has confirmed in a letter that “the Commission carried out the appropriate checks” in accordance with its functions and that the information concerning Zahoor provided by Pakistan has been deleted from the INTERPOL Information System at the request of its National Central Bureau on 28 September 2022.
Papers show that the Interpol Commission – made up of four members from US, UK, Lebanon and Morocco–has deleted the Red Notice category for Umar Farooq Zahoor after the FIA wrote to Interpol on 26 September confirming approval for the cancellation of Red Notice, in a case started by FIA Punjab Zone-1.
Umar Farooq Zahoor’s name was added in the Interpol’s most wanted list after the FIA wrote to the international police making several allegations against Liberia’s Ambassador-At-Large for South East Asia, Middle East and Pakistan.
The name of Mr Zahoor has been removed from the Red list after the fresh investigation, conducted by the officers of FIA who are appointed by the new Government, revealed that the allegations against Mr. Zahoor were frivolous and were politically motivated.
Investigations established later on that the FIA was asked by Shahzad Akbar to help Sophia Mirza, the former wife of Zahoor. The couple married in 2006, divorced within a year after the birth of twin daughters and ever since they have fought a custody battle while daughters Zainab and Zuneirah have publicly maintained they want to live with their father.
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.