July 2024 – March 2025
The dew-laden dawn of July 2024 felt anything but calm inside Dewan House. After eighteen months of macro‑crisis triage, Batool Qureshi, Ahsan Mehmood, and Danish Farooqui thought they had finally wrestled the group's finances into a predictable rhythm—hybrid‑car kits were clearing customs again, cement was riding a modest recovery in PSDP spending, and the International Finance Corporation's first US $10 million tranche had arrived on schedule for the waste‑heat recovery plant at Hattar.
Then the letter landed.
A single, cream‑coloured envelope stamped "Strictly Confidential – Office of the Governor, State Bank of Pakistan". Inside: a terse three‑paragraph notice informing Dewan Mushtaq Group that a joint inspection team—comprising the SBP's Banking Supervision Department, the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU), and the Federal Investigation Agency's Anti‑Money‑Laundering wing—would conduct an onsite review of all Dewan‑related loan facilities from 2002 to 2010, plus any outstanding exposures at Summit Bank, BankIslami, and Meezan Bank.
> "…in line with Pakistan's commitments to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) post‑Grey‑List exit."
Scene 1 – Panic in the War‑Room
That afternoon the senior team huddled in the 10th‑floor war‑room—six people, three laptops, one whiteboard scribbled with red arrows connecting SBP, FIA, FMU.
> Batool (slapping the letter on the desk): "Fourteen days' notice—practically a dawn raid."
Khalid Anwar (Group CFO, grey stubble, eyes ringed red): "They want vintage files—MyBank archives, Summit merger data—stuff sitting in off‑site storage for a decade."
Danish: "We divested MyBank to Summit in 2010. Why reopen it now?"
Ahsan (leaning back, fingers templed): "FATF compliance gives the SBP political cover. But someone nudged them. The question is—who benefits?"
A hush fell. Everyone knew the likely culprits: competitors still circling Dewan Motors' distressed assets; political factions irritated by Yousuf's vocal support for an independent monetary policy; maybe even disgruntled ex‑employees chasing whistle‑blower bounties under Pakistan's 2023 AML whistle‑blower rules.
> Batool (taking a breath): "Options?"
Khalid: "Full cooperation. We digitise every file, tag every voucher, and get ahead of the narrative."
Ahsan: "And parallel damage control. Engage SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad directly—remind him we're critical to the hybrid‑EV localisation roadmap."
Scene 2 – Flashback: The MyBank Years
To understand the storm, one had to revisit the MyBank saga of 2002‑2010. Back then, Dewan had acquired Saudi‑Pak Commercial Bank, rebranded it "MyBank," and—amid the Musharraf‑era credit boom—channelled aggressive SME and auto loans via in‑house dealerships. The model worked until the 2008 global crash, when NPLs spiked to 18 percent. In 2010, under SBP pressure, Dewan sold a controlling stake to Suroor Investments Ltd. (Dubai), which later folded MyBank into Summit Bank.
The sale paperwork cleared, but critics alleged Dewan had first "upstreamed" soft inter‑company loans to shore up its manufacturing units, leaving a thin‑capitalized shell for the buyer. No regulator proved wrongdoing—until now.
Scene 3 – The SBP–FIA Onsite
On 21 July 2024, two SBP directors, an FIA deputy director, and three FMU analysts arrived at Dewan House. Lines of archive boxes greeted them. Khalid had over‑prepared.
> SBP Director Zubair Khan (flipping a decade‑old credit‑committee minute): "Why did MyBank approve Rs 600 million in unsecured facilities to Dewan Textile Mills in May 2008 when the credit‑risk officer flagged covenant breaches?"
Khalid (steady): "Because the textile subsidy under SRO 414 promised a 7‑percent export rebate. The board expected swift cashflows."
FIA Officer Nadeem: "Yet the loan was rolled over four times."
Khalid: "After the 2009 cotton‑price shock, yes. But interest was capitalised; nothing was written off."
Scene 4 – Media Smokescreen
Forty‑eight hours later, Shahzeb Khanzada ran a Geo News segment: "EXCLUSIVE: Dewan's Rs 20 billion Loan Carousel—State Bank Probes Money Laundering." Graphics flashed Cayman‑Island shells (irrelevant) and quoted unnamed "SBP insiders."
Phones lit up. Suppliers demanded cash. Meezan Bank froze a revolving Murabaha line. Facebook posts accused Dewan of "sinking the rupee."
Scene 5 – The Governor's Call
Late night, Ahsan's cell rang. Governor Jameel Ahmad on the line.
> Jameel: "Cooperate fully, please. Political season—everyone is paranoid about dirty dollars. But treat this as a compliance audit, not an attack."
Ahsan: "Governor sb, our lenders are panicking. We need a statement of reassurance."
Jameel: "Let the onsite finish. If no AML breach, we'll issue a clean‑bill letter."
Scene 6 – A Ghost from Dubai
Meanwhile, an email pinged Danish's encrypted Proton account. A Dubai‑based compliance officer, Maria D'Souza, formerly at Summit Bank, offered information: internal memos showing that Suroor Investments had itself routed their acquisition funds via a Mauritius SPV. The implication: Dewan wasn't the only party with skeletons.
Danish and Ahsan flew to Dubai under the pretext of an auto‑parts expo. In a quiet café at City Walk, Maria produced copies.
> Maria: "Your enemies fed the press half‑truths. This is the other half."
Ahsan: "Why help us?"
Maria (shrugging): "Summit's new shareholders want a clean slate before raising GCC capital. Expose Suroor, you clip the narrative."
Scene 7 – Parliamentary Hearing
Back home, the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance summoned Dewan executives. Television cameras rolled.
> MNA Ali Pervaiz Malik (PML‑N): "Why were Dewan loans re‑priced below KIBOR during 2007‑2009?"
Batool: "Because SBP's Export Finance Scheme allowed lower rates for eligible industries. We exported US $86 million in yarn."
PTI MNA Sher Afzal Marwat: "Is it not true you moved Rs 3 billion to UAE accounts in 2009?"
Ahsan: "False. That was proceeds of a legitimate LC for polyester staple fibre, routed through Habib Bank Dubai as per SBP FE‑25 rules."
The sparring made prime‑time fodder, but nothing damning stuck.
Scene 8 – Deal‑Making Behind the Curtain
Away from cameras, Dewan's lobbyists worked Lahore and Karachi. Friendly columnists published op‑eds cautioning against "witch‑hunts that scare away FDI." 200 factory workers recorded TikToks defending their employer.
A strategic leak of Maria's documents landed on the desk of Dawn's investigative unit. The resulting story, "Summit's Offshore Maze," shifted attention. The beat‑up now looked like a civil‑war among bankers, not a one‑sided villain tale.
Scene 9 – The SBP Findings
On 9 December 2024, SBP issued its draft report. Key points:
1. No evidence of international money laundering by Dewan Group.
2. Breaches of single‑party exposure limits at the old MyBank—already penalised in 2010.
3. Weak credit‑risk governance "substantially improved" after the 2020 SAP rollout.
Sanctions: a Rs 75 million composite fine for historical breaches, remedial directives on related‑party disclosure—manageable.
Scene 10 – A New Banking Code
Simultaneously, Parliament passed the Banking Services Reform Act 2025—introducing public whistle‑blower rewards and mandatory disclosure of beneficial ownership for all credit above Rs 2 billion.
At Karachi Press Club, Batool addressed reporters:
> Batool: "We welcome the new code. Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Jameel Ahmad later commented on CNBC Arabia:
> "The Dewan case shows the system works—probe, clarify, penalise, move on. Pakistan's banking sector is maturing."
Final Thoughts
Chapter 32 chronicles how a legacy group survived the harshest glare—the nexus of media sensationalism, regulatory zeal, and corporate rivalry—by embracing radical transparency, leveraging counter‑intelligence, and reframing the narrative.
Question for Readers: Does hyper‑transparency protect businesses from smear campaigns—or does it simply feed a 24‑hour outrage cycle? If you ran a legacy conglomerate, would you open every ledger to the public, or keep silence and fight behind closed doors?
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¹ Data: SBP weekly FX reserves July 2024, IMF EFR press release June 2024.