Stamp paper fraud: Millions 'embezzled' through counterfeit court fees

CHINIOT: A large-scale fraud involving stamp papers has been uncovered in Punjab’s Chiniot, ARY News reported on Friday, citing sources.

As per details, millions of rupees have been embezzled through ‘forged court fees’ by showing ‘fake stamp papers’.

According to judicial sources, court fees submitted in local courts were allegedly found to be counterfeit. Stamp papers of Rs1,500, 1,200, 500, and 200 were allegedly tampered with and converted into stamps valued at Rs15,000.

The alleged scam was exposed in multiple courts, with 36 counterfeit court fees discovered in the court of Civil Judge First Class Umar Farooq.

Similarly, 22 ‘fake’ submissions were found in the court of Chaudhry Fayaz, 19 in Shazia Kausar’s court, and 16 in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal.

Session Judge Zafar Iqbal’s court had 13 fraudulent fee submissions, while 13 were also detected in Muhammad Mazhar’s court and 8 in Waqar Ahmed’s court. Further investigations revealed 2 counterfeit fees in the court of Nadeem Anjum and 12 in the court of Umair Ali.

The fraud was exposed through an online verification system, which led to the detection of the forged court fees.

Following this revelation, District and Sessions Judge Shazia Rahman ordered the registration of cases in multiple police stations. Several cases, where fake court fees had been submitted over the past three years, have now been withdrawn.