President Zardari grants relief worth Rs 15.2 million to 9 policyholders

ISLAMABAD, Sep 13 (SABAH): President Asif Ali Zardari has upheld nine decisions of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman (FIO), directing two insurance companies to pay a collective sum of over Rs 15.2 million to insurance policyholders or their family members.

President Asif Ali Zardari gave these directions while rejecting six representations of EFU Life Assurance Ltd and three representations of Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Ltd, filed against FIO’s decisions.

As per the details, it was alleged before FIO that the agents of EFU Life Assurance allured Muhammed Shafiq and Adeeb Roshan, whereas Muhammad Mumtaz Malik, Muhammad Shabbir, and Abid Hussain Khokhar were enticed by the agents of Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Ltd to invest their monies in profitable schemes, assuring them of monthly returns on their investments. When they approached the concerned companies for returns or reimbursement of their amounts, the companies rejected their claims. In other cases, EFU Life Assurance Limited repudiated the Death Claims filed by the family members of late Ali Haider, Shaikh Ali Hassan, Chand Ali, and Ali Akbar.

Feeling aggrieved, the complainants separately approached the Federal Insurance Ombudsman (FIO) for the redressal of their complaints. The Ombudsman, after hearing their cases, directed the companies to pay a total of Rs 15.2 million to the complainants.

Later, the insurance companies filed separate representations against the decisions of FIO before the President of Pakistan. The hearings of the cases were held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, and since, no legal infirmity was found in the impugned orders of FIO, the representations were rejected.

Consequently, EFU Life Assurance Ltd was directed to pay Rs 3 million to Mst Nazara Bibi, Rs 3.077 million to Mr Noor Hassan, Rs 2.508 million to Mr Naik Muhammad, Rs 796,000 to Mrs Kamila Ali, Rs 1.612 million to Mr Muhammad Shafiq, Rs 933,992 to Mr Adeeb Roshan.

Similarly, Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Ltd has also been directed to pay Rs 636,456 to Mr Muhammad Mumtaz Malik, Rs 1.319 million to Mr Muhammad Shabbir, and the highest cash value of Rs 1.328 million to Mr Abid Hussain Khokhar.