Dawood ‘top aide’s’ guarantor goes bankrupt

The London Gazette report has listed Mumtaz Ghaffar’s status as bankrupt.

Mumtaz Ghaffar Khan, who had stood guarantor in the court for Pakistani businessman Jabir Siddiq, alias “Moti”, who is said to be a “top lieutenant” of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and was arrested by UK police in August, was declared “bankrupt” by a British court in December 2017.

The London Gazette report that carries all the gazette notifications, in its 14 December 2017 edition, has listed Ghaffar’s status as bankrupt and described his present occupation as “unknown”.

The Scotland Yard had arrested Jabir Moti on the extradition request filed by the US government and top American probe agency Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in relation to the allegations of conspiracy to commit blackmail, extortion, money-laundering and import drugs in the US.

The FBI has described 51-year-old Moti, who was arrested from Hotel Hilton in London, as a “senior member” and “top lieutenant” of the D-company.

Besides Ghaffar, Pakistani High Commissioner to UK, Sahebzada Ahmed Khan too had stood as guarantor for Moti, but the court still denied bail to Moti. While seeking bail for him on 27 September 2018, Moti’s defence counsel had presented two witnesses who made statements in his favour. Ghaffar, who was presented as a well-known British-Pakistani businessman, had assured the judge that Moti will stay put at his flat if released on bail. The second witness was an English lawyer who said that he knew Moti for over two decades and that he was a good man. The bail plea, however, fell flat. Ghaffar was the director of three UK-based companies—Investment Gold Limited, RG Cars UK Limited and ABC Car Hire Limited, all of which are dissolved now. The case is being heard by Judge Emma Arbuthnot, who is also hearing the extradition case involving Indian fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

Moti’s latest bail hearing was scheduled for Friday (19 October). However, speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Yaseer Mehmood, the press officer of Crown Prosecution Service, said that the details of the hearing would be known on Monday.

Abhinandan Mishra