What Happened
According to a report by Dawn media, atleast 15 FIRs have been lodged against the Porsche Centre Lahore Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd owner Syed Abuzar Bokhari for allegedly defrauding clients. A senior representative of the police stated Mr. Bokhari allegedly took RS. 50 million from clients as advance payments to buy new Porsche Taycan 4S cars, but did not get any vehicle. The police are currently investigating the issue.
Inside the story
Mr. Bokhari is the founder and CEO of the only Porsche dealership in Pakistan, based in Lahore. Initially, Mr. Bokhari started off with two partners but continued alone with the venture when Porsche formally entered the Pakistani market, according to Profit. Currently, the clients who filed the complaints stated they have not gotten their money back. When the new Porsche Taycan 4S cars were not delivered and the clients contacted Mr. Bokhari, he gave them cheques for the amount they had initially deposited with him. The clients filed their complaints with police stations when the cheques bounced on being deposited. A client, while speaking to a news agency said, ‘Bokhari told me to wait for a month and a half and I agreed with him.’ He continued that ‘on the promised date, Bokhari told me that he could not deliver the vehicle because of the Covid-19 lockdown.’
What does Porsche have to say?
Meanwhile, Porsche Pakistan issued an explanation saying the reports about their CEO owing car booking money to anyone are false and all the registration money has been received in the account of Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd (Porsche Pakistan) on behalf of Porsche AG as their appointed representative. The clarification also states that Porsche AG has been refusing delivery of the vehicles to Pakistani customers for two years. Porsche’s presence in Pakistan was conditionally launched in 2006 and then formally launched in 2008. Since then, it has been in successful operation and has evolved significantly.