Aftermath of IMA Fiasco - Part 1

"Fiasco - a complete failure, especially a ludicrous or humiliating one" - dictionary meaning of the word. It's a complete devastating failure not just for one company IMA but for the community as a whole. Before we delve deep into the subject let us first accept and submit to the indisputable fact that led the people of South Indian cities to such a pathetic and helpless situation. The fact is expressed with so much clarity by none other than the One who created us in His Book that has been sent as a guidance to mankind....

"Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea on account of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return [Quran 30:41]".

Quick Background

IMA - I-Monetary Advisory, an investment and bullion trading company went bust a month back, around 10th June 2019, with it's founder and managing director leaving a suicide note through an audio message and stealthily leaving the country. I was taking a power nap on that day just before Asr prayer. Suddenly a message pops up on my phone sent by a friend, Shahzad bhai, who was supposed to reach my place that day from Kadappa at 3.00 PM. I started playing that audio message, but the voice was absolutely feeble. It sounded to me like a SOS message sent by Br.Shahzad Qadri. I tried reaching him to ensure that he is safe, but unfortunately his phone wasn't reachable. I became even more restless and nervous.

By this time, my wife, who was in the middle of some household chores, sensing something unusual came running to me and offered a head phone so that the audio can be listened more clearly. The audio was addressed to Police Commissioner of Bangalore. At the end of listening to the audio, i was literally shivering. It was a suicide note by none other than Mr.Mansoor Ali Khan, the founder of IMA. With my voice trembling and words not coming out properly, I told my wife that this person has committed suicide. By this time, I got the call back from Br.Shahzad Qadri who wasn't reachable sometime back. He too told me that so and so committed suicide. I told him, let's not discuss this over phone, better come home first, at least i am happy that you are safe. My wife cooled me down, saying sarcastically, "don't panic, such people will never commit suicide so easily. Bengaloreans are very bold. They will not budge". It took a while for me to come back to normalcy.

Never wanted to write on this

Before moving further, I would like to clearly and humbly state, I never wanted to write an article on this very sensational subject. But the situation forced me to take up this issue and share some thoughts. I have been triggered with messages in WhatsApp. People asking me questions like - do you know anyone in IMA?, do any of the IMA directors part of your business?, why don't you release a video on IMA?, how can I get my money back? how soon I will get my money back? etc. etc. I have only one simple answer to all these questions - we are nothing to do with IMA, its business modules or any of it's directors including Mr.Mansoor Khan.

Firstly, like any other investor we are also keeping our fingers crossed anticipating Mr.Mansoor Khan will come back one day from his secret sojourn and settle all investor money. Secondly, I did not want to write or say anything on this subject as this is a matter that is at a very high level conspiracy involving influential and affluent people dealing with thousands of Crores. On the contrary, we are very small and insignificant. Thirdly, we do not want to speak about something about which we do not have complete knowledge. If we say something that we do not know then we become slanderers which is totally unethical and morally unacceptable.

Tribute to his immense Talent

Now, it's almost a month this incident has happened. What my wife predicted turned out to be true. Mr.Mansoor Khan left the country with the bounty with so much of meticulous planning and unprecedented precision. Even in the audio clip he mentioned at least thrice that he is going to leave this place - not world. A person who is going to commit suicide will never tell it thrice in a short audio clip of hardly couple of minutes. He is so intelligent that he played with the words that only another criminal minded person can read between the lines and decipher the suicide note :-)

Keeping aside what damages he did to the society and how he played with the lives of thousands of "innocent" investors, I always admired his talent that how can a person can take thousands of investors on a royal ride still maintaining a strong nexus with politicians, corrupt government officials and the top brass. This is something mind-boggling and incredible. The other day I was reading in Bangalore Mirror that he even used to conduct cricket tournaments for cops and give them big trophies even if the teams performed badly in those matches. Had he been into ethical business, undoubtedly, he would have stood in the ranks of Narayana Murthy's, Azim Premji's and Laxmi Mittal's.

But, unfortunately, he choose to be on the other side basing his business / schemes on wrong fundamentals becoming a prey for politicians and bureaucrats that always crave for money. How much ever you feed them, they will not be happy or satisfied. As prophet (peace be on Him) rightly put, only the mud of grave can fulfill their desires. This exceptionally talented man Mr.Mansoor Khan choose to be on the ranks of Harshad Mehta's, Ramalinga Raju's and A.R.Telgi's, setting a wrong example for others to emulate. The IMA scam is definitely going to be recorded as one of the biggest scams in the Indian history once the SIT investigations are complete and the findings are out.

You reap what you sow!!

This is a proverb that goes back thousands of years. This is also expressed as: as you sow, so shall you reap.. Mr.Mansoor Khan thought he can literally "purchase" everyone with the poor investors money and he went on purchasing these commodities in the last one decade or so in order to keep the investors confidence in him always at the high. He could be the first businessman in history of Bangalore that did so much of social work, but unfortunately Almighty alone knows how much of purity was there behind all these "noble work". This is a classical example of the Hadith of our beloved prophet (peace be on him) that talks about the volume of work done without purity of intention (Ikhlaas) even it it is like the size of mount Uhad.

Were these "noble work" done with the profits earned in the business or through the investors money garnered through a successful Ponzi scheme? It is not very difficult to get the answers now. But over the years "innocent" investors got carried away by all the good works of this Samaritan and sadly succumbed to the wrong web without knowing that these are the dangerous and vicious traps spread out to catch them. The web he spread finally swallowed him entirely like a big shark. The one who likes to swim with deadly sharks has good chances of finally eaten up by them. We strongly feel, this is what exactly happened in the case of Mr.Mansoor Khan.

Continue to Part 2...

In the next part of this series, I am going to cover some interesting stories of how the community is now divided into two schools of thought...Continue reading. Here is the link....

Yours Sincerely,

Ahamed Hasan, Convener, Halal Housing & Al-Fithra Organic

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