Dubai: A former Dubai resident has blamed MMA group CEO Noureed Malik Awan for the death of his only child.
Shamoil, five, died of liver complications in Pakistan last month. His devastated father Shahid Zulfiqar said he could not get his son treated in a good hospital as all his life savings were stuck in MMA Forex when he needed them most.
Zulfiqar had invested $100,000 (Dh367,000) in the company before Dubai Police shut it down on suspicion of fraud and took Noureed into custody.
“Noureed has the blood of my son on his hands. He was suffering from liver cancer; a costly liver transplant was our only hope. I told my situation to Noureed and begged him to return my investment but he refused. I had to sell off my house and car to raise money but it was not enough. So instead of the UK, we got the transplant done in India. But as we had feared, Shamoil developed a liver infection and died within weeks of our return to Lahore. I buried him with my own hands,” Zulfiqar told XPRESS by phone from his native Pakistan.
A chartered accountant by profession, Zulfiqar worked at Dubai’s Saudi German Hospital as finance manager and lived at the Canal Star Tower in Sharjah’s Buheirah Corniche area with his wife Maria and son Shamoil.
Enticed by incredible returns, he invested $5,000 in MMA Forex in August last year. Two months later he staked another $95,000. “It was everything I had,” he said.
Zulfiqar claims he made the first payment at the firm’s Mai Tower Office in Al Nahda and remitted another $95,000 to Noureed’s ADCB account from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he was transferred by his company.
“On November 15, 2012, I came to Dubai on an official trip and dropped by the MMA Forex office to enquire about my investment. I requested to meet Noureed but his staff declined my request saying he was out of town. They assured me that my fund was in safe hands and even gave me receipts of my payments,” recalls Zulfiqar, who is yet to get any refund.
“I eventually got to see Noureed at an investors’ meet in Lahore on February 21, 2013. Shamoil’s condition had suddenly deteriorated and I needed the money urgently. I pleaded with him, but it was like banging my head against a brick wall. They say time is a great healer, but I will never be able to forget my son or forgive Noureed Malik. Shanoil was such a darling. If I had the money, he would still be alive. It’s a fact that will always haunt me.”
