Umar Farooq Zahoor

Umar Farooq Zahoor
Born (1975-10-26) October 26, 1975
Oslo, Norway
Residence Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Nationality Norwegian
Occupation Businessman
Years active 1994–present
Spouse(s) Sofia Mirza (m. 2006; div. 2009)
Children 2

Umar Farooq Zahoor (born October 26, 1975) is a Norwegian businessman based in Dubai. He was convicted of embezzlement in 2003.[1]

Early life

Zahoor was born and raised in Oslo, Norway, the second son of 15 children to Pakistani merchant parents.[1]

In 2000, it was discovered that Zahoor had embezzled tickets for over 15 million Norwegian kroner through a travel agency he founded in Norway. He fled the country and was arrested in London in December 2000. He was released from prison after being in custody for 20 days.[2]

In 2003, Zahoor and New Zealand native Shaun Gregory Morgan started a fictitious bank in Zürich, Switzerland, called Banque Internationale. Zahoor was sentenced to a year in prison for aggravated embezzlement, and by 2007 was wanted by Interpol, as he never served the sentence. At that point, Swiss authorities had stopped searching for him.[2] Morgan was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement.[3] The pair defrauded 27 people for over 120 million kroner through the fictitious bank.[2]

Zahoor is said to be involved in what is known as the Nordea fraud, where wealthy widow Randi Nilsen was defrauded out of over 63 million kroner. In 2010, the money was transferred via a Nordea bank outlet in Oslo to Dubai, where the money was believed to be controlled by Zahoor.[1][4]

In 2015, the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang reported that Zahoor was involved in a $510 million (USD) energy deal between Ameri Group and the government of Ghana.[1] The government was advised to renegotiate the deal after a report commissioned by the energy minister of Ghana found it to be overpriced by $150 million, and possibly fraudulent.[5][6] Zahoor, the former CEO of Ameri, was said to have signed the deal as a director.[4][7]

Personal life

In 2006, Zahoor married Pakistani actress Sofia Mirza. They have twin daughters. After the marriage ended in 2009, Mirza was granted custody of their children, and for fear that Zahoor might take them out of Pakistan, they were included on a list of people who could not leave the country. Despite this, Zahoor was able to bring his children out of Pakistan by using falsified passports.[2]

In 2013, it was reported that Zahoor was engaged to Pakistani actress Veena Malik.[8] In 2014, Malik fled to Dubai after being sentenced in Pakistan to 26 years in prison for blasphemy after a controversial appearance on a Pakistani television show.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rolf J. Widerøe and Amund Bakke Foss, "The 500 Million Dollar Mystery," Verdens Gang, December 12, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rolf J. Wideroe, "Lured Norwegians with fake bank," Verdens Gang, December 19, 2010.
  3. ↑ Emily Morgan, "Holladay man gets 5 years for bank fraud scheme," Deseret News, December 23, 2009.
  4. 1 2 "We weren’t wrong about 'fraudster' Umar Farooq – VG to Ameri," Citi FM, December 17, 2015.
  5. ↑ "AMERI power deal over-priced by $150m - Energy ministry report," myjoyonline.com, March 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ Kwasi Nyarko, "Ameri Power Deal Fraudulent," The Statesman Online, March 27, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Ameri $510m Deal In Danger," Daily Guide Africa, March 27, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Veena Malik and Umar Farooq to tie the knot in 2015," Times of India, November 19, 2013.
  9. ↑ Stian Eisentrager, "Bollywood star sentenced to 26 years in prison for blasphemy," Verdens Gang, November 27, 2014.
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