The chief executive officer (CEO) of Porsche Pakistan in Lahore has been accused of running off with nearly a billion rupees after conning people in the name of advance booking for high-end cars, whereas the company has termed these claims “false”.

According to the police, while victims of the scam have registered complaints against Abuzar Bokhari in different police stations across the city, the department has informed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), seeking their help in informing Interpol.

Help from the international criminal police organisation is being sought for Bokhari’s extradition from England where he allegedly flew off to a few days ago.

RELATED STORIES

Police further say that Bokhari collected Rs800 million (Rs 80 crores) from people in the name of car registrations and fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after which he went to England and has not returned since.

While Bokhari is the founder and CEO of Lahore-based, and Pakistan’s only, Porsche dealership based in Lahore, media reports say he started off with two partners but continued alone with the venture when Porsche formally entered the Pakistani market.

Porsche’s presence in Pakistan was provisionally launched in 2006 and then formally launched in 2008. Since then, it has been running its operations rather successfully and has grown significantly.

However, the luxury carmaker has now reportedly removed its official website page on Pakistan.

“Porsche official website removes page on Pakistan which has details of its Pakistan representative Abuzar Bokhari — accused of leaving the country with Rs800 million in booked orders — here is a screenshot of the cached version of the page,” journalist Omar Quraishi tweeted.

‘ALLEGATIONS ARE FALSE’:

In a statement, Porsche Pakistan said the said claims are false. It said that its CEO doesn’t owe car booking money to anyone and all the registration money was received in the account of Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd (Porsche Pakistan) on behalf of Porsche AG as their appointed representative.

It said Porsche AG was refusing delivery of the vehicles to Pakistani customers for two years.

A lull in supply is due to attempts to discredit Porche Pakistan by a ‘controversia;’ business group.

The statement said Porsche Pakistan was in a legal battle with Porsche AG for this “illegal” refusal on all legal forums.

The statement alleged that the delay was due to Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE’s alleged understanding with a rival local party it called “an influential and controversial business group” that seeks to get hold of Porsche distribution rights in Pakistan.

The company concluded, “Porsche Pakistan and its legal team are fully available for any concerned parties or investigative authorities for any information or clarification they may require.