Justice for Creek Marina project in DHA

Creek Marina – Relaunches Grand Embezzlement Scheme

he infamous, Creek Marina, Karachi is back again with another scheme. Armed with a sinister agenda of once again defrauding gullible investors, the Singaporean National, who is CEO, Singapore Meinhardt, has once again landed in Karachi with a grand scheme to reap in more funds by promising Pakistanis a piece of his planned elusive paradise. 

The Singaporean national, Dr. Shahzad Nasim has started his old ploy by luring well-off Pakistanis again.

His strategy is simple: entice the general public to invest their life savings in a project through a grand scheme of glossy marketing designed to attract unsuspecting investors.

They simply forget the fact that all such plans failed to materialize in the past, rendering the citizens to suffer for more than 13 years.

However, the situation was different 13 years ago. Hundreds of investors were attracted to the Creek Marina scheme when it was first launched as a Multi-billion rupee venture in 2004.

Much to their dismay, soon the general public found out that the project was one of the biggest real estate scams in the country, as they failed to get their invested dream homes by the due time in 2009.

People are always in search of a new lifestyle. They have the right to dream, work hard and acquire the lavish lifestyle they truly deserve.

Hence, they explore viable options for investing in grand projects. They’re confident in the knowledge that their investments would be well protected by the developer as well as the state.

However, in the absence of stringent laws and the non-cooperative attitude of the government, it all becomes easier for the real estate fraudsters to loot and plunder the wealth of the general public in Pakistan.

The situation becomes more accentuated if the developer is a foreigner like Meinhardt.

The public is well aware of the recent allegations, which have made rounds and rounds across print and social media.

These claim that Dr. Shahzad Nasim, a high roller in Pakistan, with considerable influence and esteem, is again developing the project without fundamental compliance of the law and building regulations. Yet, he moves steadily on without facing any challenge.

Court documents and various other on-ground evidence suggest that the project has not received the necessary permission from building authorities and environmental agencies.

More importantly, it has been alleged that the land on which the project is to be constructed was granted irregularly. There is no arbitrary authority to launch investigations against serious allegations. 

It is pertinent to mention here that the CEO of Meinhardt Singapore, Dr. Shahzad Nasim, is a Singaporean citizen of Pakistani Origin.

He can easily fly to Karachi, and fly back, despite being declared an absconder by the court for his fraudulent activities, thus proving his sheer arrogance and daring as he loots the life savings of the average citizen and easily flies back without question.

A large number of victims who continue to suffer due to previous fraudulent schemes of Shahzad Nasim have approached news reporters, saying that around Fifteen years have lapsed and the investors in the Creek Marina Project are still waiting for the completion and delivery of the project.

The project was supposed to be completed by December 2009.

These days, Meinhardt again commits to fulfill its 15-year-old promise of developing the project.

With the help of expensive PR and marketing consultants, Shehzad Nasim is again enticing the general public to invest their life savings in a scheme that didn’t guarantee execution.

The victims have urged upon the Supreme Court that if justice is to be served without any further delay, the apex court should immediately take notice, as the CEO, Meinhardt is again in Karachi and trying to hoodwink the investors and aiming to collect massive funds.

They have appealed to the concerned authorities and the courts of Pakistan that the construction firm, Meinhardt, be made to provide proper security against development works so that those who invest in the project remain protected.

The victims have urged upon the Supreme Court that if justice is to be served without any further delay, the apex court should immediately take notice, as the CEO Meinhardt, is again in Karachi and trying to hoodwink the investors and aiming to collect massive funds.

They have appealed to the concerned authorities and the courts of Pakistan that the construction firm, Meinhardt be made to provide proper security against development works so that those who invest in the project remain protected.

 man invested all his life savings in a luxury apartment project so he can have a comfortable life with his daughter. Everything looked fine in the beginning — work permits were issued to project sponsors, workers removed the earth and piling was done.

Warnings about project delays followed soon as contractors missed one deadline after another and investors started making enquiries. But the old man believed that he would soon see apartments rising at the seafront until one day when he went to the site and saw that work had been wrapped up. He died out of shock the next morning, his daughter recalled, insisting his name is not mentioned in print.

More than 250 such families have invested over a total of Rs3 billion in the six-star residency, Creek Marina Apartments, the project which for years has been stuck in a legal limbo between the project developers and the Defence Housing Authority (DHA). Each family has paid Rs15 million or more for the apartments that have yet to be constructed.

The luxurious apartment project was launched by a Singapore-based firm, Meinhardt, in collaboration with DHA, amid much fanfare and advertising in 2005. The project was to be completed by December, 2009.

Two years past the deadline, the investors — mostly businessmen and professionals, who paid 85 per cent of the total cost — are still waiting for some consolation. “We paid a huge price believing it would be a dream house after retirement,” said Shabbir Allibhai, one of the people who invested. “Creek Marina promised us security, a prime location of being next to the golf club and boasted of having a raffle club.”

Apartment brochures boasted of dazzling eight residential towers of three and four bedrooms, located around lush green trees and blue waters. Today, on the construction site, there stands an incomplete tower of 15 storeys, instead of the promised 24 floors, and another tower of eight storeys.

“We have heard of low-cost housing projects going into shambles but when two big names were involved, we never imagined this would happen,” complained another investor.

“We trusted the project and took special interest,” said Amin Dawood, an investor. “It was the housing authority’s responsibility to monitor the project till the end.” When the project was launched, it was described as a DHA-Meinhardt Partnership. A special purpose vehicle was created by Meinhardt by the name of Creek Marina Private Ltd (CMPL). Some 280 out of the 780 units were booked, with the completion date of December, 2009. This was later moved to December, 2011.

The contract for construction of the apartments was given to a Chinese company, who did piling and foundations but then left in mid-2007 after a dispute.

They claimed safety concerns for their decision to back out. CMPL claimed refunds of performance bonds, totalling $13 million. After this, two local constructors — Principal and Paragon — took charge and started sluggish construction, which was halted in 2010.

The investors kept clearing the dues even though no construction was taking place as they were receiving legal notices. After a while, they decided, however, to form Creek Marina Action Committee. “The aim of forming such a committee was to push the authorities to either complete the project or to ask for refunds,” explained Allibhai.

In 2011, the Sindh High Court ordered whatever fund is available in the CMPL account it may be used exclusively for construction and the budget would be approved by DHA. The money was, however, never released and DHA never approved this.

An official of the DHA explained that they fear that Meinhardt will run away with the money. “They already have a significant amount of money, which they are not using in construction, even though we tried to negotiate with the authorities.”  The DHA official said that though a decision has yet to be taken, they can go to court against Meinhardt once again.

The members of the action committee have also gone to court for fraud against CMPL and filed an injunction. They have also contacted the DHA and Meinhardt to recover their money but nothing concrete has come out of it.

The investors admitted there is a trust deficit now as they believe the DHA wants Meinhardt to surrender the project, while the latter, they claimed, wants to run away with their money. “We were blinded as we thought it was a great project. The sufferers are us who paid their hard-earned money to get the apartments as promised,” said Allibhai.

Representatives of Meinhardt and CMPL were unavailable for contact despite several attempts over email and phone.

Creek Marina Saga: Singaporean National Lures Pakistanis Again After Depriving Them of Millions By Way of Real Estate Fraud

KARACHI: A Singaporean national has started to lure well-off Pakistanis again by way of enticing the general public to invest their life savings in a project which failed to materialize in the past, rendering the citizens to suffer for more than 13 years.

BACKGROUND: Hundreds of investors were attracted to the Creek Marina Project when it was first launched as Multi-billion rupee venture in 2004. Soon the general public found out that the  project was one of the biggest real estate scams in the country as it failed to get their invested dream homes by the due time in 2009.

Like anywhere else in the world, people have the right to dream, work hard and desire a lavish lifestyle. They have safe options for investing in grand projects knowing well that their investments would be well protected by the developer and if not the developer, the state. However, this isn’t the case in Pakistan, as it is easy to make fools of general public especially so if the developer  is a foreigner like Meinhardt.

Recent allegations which have made rounds and rounds across print and social media claim that Dr. Shahzad Nasim, a high roller in Pakistan, with considerable influence and esteem, is again developing the project without basic and fundamental compliance of the law and building regulations.

Court documents available with the Regional Telegraph suggest that the project has not received necessary permission from building authorities and environmental agencies. More importantly it has been alleged that the land on which the project is to be constructed was granted in an irregular manner.

It is pertinent to mention here that the CEO of Meinhardt Singapore, Dr. Shahzad Nasim, is a Singaporean citizen of Pakistani Origin, who can easily fly to Karachi, and fly back, despite being declared as absconder by the court for his fraudulent activities, this proving his sheer arrogance and daring as he loots the life savings of the average citizen and easily fly back without question.

Hundreds of families continue to suffer in silence as the fraudster like Shahzad  Nasim is further emboldened to commit more crimes and exploit the citizens. The victims have asked as to till when the building mafia would continue to plunder the hard earned savings of Pakistani families? Till when will the authorities ignore the crimes of such individuals?

A large number of victims who continue to suffer due to previous fraud of Shahzad Nasim have approached news reporters, saying that around Fifteen years have lapsed and the investors in the Creek Marina Project are still waiting for the completion and delivery of the project. The project was supposed to be completed by December, 2009.

These days, Meinhardt again commits to fulfill its 15 year old promise of developing the project. With the help of expensive PR and marketing consultants Shehzad Nasim is again enticing the general public to invest their life savings in a project that no guarantee of execution.

The victims have urged upon the Supreme Court that if justice is to be served without any further delay, the apex court should immediately take notice, as the CEO, Meinhardt is again in Karachi and trying to hoodwink the investors and aiming to collect massive funds.

They have appealed to the concerned authorities and the courts of Pakistan that the construction firm, Meinhardt be made to provide proper security against development works so that those who invest in the project remain protected.

They have demanded to hold Dr. Shahzad Nasim and his partners accountable, put their names on Exit Control Lists and shouldn’t be allowed to travel out Pakistan without hedging the project or completing it.