In Pakistan, agent sentenced to 41 years over fake certificates for nurses — Dawn
In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, the Special Central Court sentenced agent Ghulam Zulfiqar Ali to a total of 41 years in prison in a case involving the sending of 92 nurses to Saudi Arabia using fake work experience certificates. As Dawn reports, the nurses were deported within a month of arriving in Saudi Arabia.
Sentence and compensation
Judge Abdul Rehman Muhammad Arif of the Rawalpindi Special Central Court announced the ruling on September 23 in a case registered in 2024. Zulfiqar Ali was found guilty under several provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Emigration Act of 1979.
According to the court order, he was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment each for fraud, document forgery, and using forged documents. The court also imposed ten years of imprisonment each under two provisions of the Emigration Act of 1979. Fines were stipulated for each count, totaling 700,000 Pakistani rupees. According to an infographic by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, the total sentence is 41 years.
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Separately, the court ordered Zulfiqar Ali to pay 9.2 million Pakistani rupees in compensation — 100,000 rupees to each of the 92 nurses. The funds are to be recovered in the manner provided for arrears of land revenue and transferred to the Islamabad Zone director of the Federal Investigation Agency for distribution among the victims. If the compensation is not paid, the convicted man was given an additional six months of simple imprisonment.
Punishment for the second convict
The second convict, Ghulam Farid, was sentenced by the court to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 Pakistani rupees under one provision of the Emigration Act. At the same time, he was acquitted under another provision of the act, as well as on charges of fraud, forgery, and using forged documents, with the benefit of the doubt.
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency stated that the prime minister's office was regularly informed about the progress of this high-profile case.
