BENGALURU: After rumours began doing the rounds of Minority Welfare Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan’s connection with the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam, Zameer called for a press conference in Vikasa Soudha on Wednesday. He said that if rumours against him are proved, he will retire from politics and that he would cooperate with the SIT if it wants to probe charges against him.
Zameer said he has nothing to do with the scam, nor has he taken any loan from Mohammed Mansoor Khan, 46, founder and managing director of IMA. “Television channels are showing money transactions between me and Mansoor. These transactions are with respect to the sale of my property in Richmond Town to Mansoor for Rs 9.38 crore,” said Zameer, producing documents of transactions and property sale in 2017 and 2018.
Zameer clarified that he had met Mansoor only four times during the sale of the property, before he went absconding, and at an iftar party this year. He said he was aware of complaints from investors against Mansoor. “I got a WhatsApp message from four people, saying that Mansoor has not given their returns or capital. After that, I spoke to Mansoor and questioned him. He told me there was a delay in making a payment due to Ramzan festival, and that he would clear all pending payments after the festival.”
When the media questioned him as to why he had not taken any action, despite knowing about the fraud, and also as he was part of the government, and why he has was interfering after his name had surfaced, Zameer said he was not aware of the scam. “I have to interfere in this issue now because this is the first time such a large number of people are hitting the road, staging a protest against IMA. Many poor people invested in IMA and being part of the government, it is my duty to respond to the public,” he said.
“People who invested in IMA believed in Mansoor. Nobody thought he would cheat them. I request Mansoor through the media, to come out of his hideout and return money to poor people. If he has given money to any politicians, bureaucrats or others, let him give the list of those people, I assure him the entire government will be with him in recovering the money,” Zameer said.
Police have identified Mansoor’s properties, including medical stores, school, apartments, mall and jewellery stores. Everything is registered in his name and not in IMA. Zameer said if he gets to know where Mansoor is, he will accompany cops to bring him to the city. “If we are not satisfied with the SIT investigation, then I will ask the chief minister to hand over the case to CBI,” he said.