Magistrate enlarges surety of Idris Shabbir over credit card use

By S.S.Selvanayagam

The Fort Magistrate enlarged suspect Idris Shabbir on surety of Rs. 300,000 and impounded his passport.Dr. Asger Shabbir Gulamhusein made a complaint to the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau (CFIB) against suspect Idris Shabbir on an issue arising from a supplementary credit card.

CFIB filed criminal action before the Fort Magistrate’s Court against Idris Shabbir, who currently holds limited probate issued by the District Court of Colombo in respect to the estate of his late father Shabbir Abbas Gulamhusein.

When the case was taken up on 8 August, CFIB submitted that the suspect had used a supplementary credit card in respect of which his father was the principal cardholder and that, even after the demise of his father on 9 June 2017, although he had cancelled all other credit cards, he had continued to use the supplementary card for a period of six months and alleged that the suspect had utilised monies lying to the credit of the estate of his late father towards the settlement of the card balances.

FCIB, on behalf of the complainant, also submitted that the suspect had no entitlement to use estate funds to settle balances related to the supplementary card for his personal expenses, thereby cheating and depriving the other heirs of the estate.

Having heard the parties, Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne enlarged the suspect on surety bail and impounded the suspect’s passport.

Reinzie Arasakularatne PC appeared for the suspect. Kamran Aziz appeared for the complainant. SI Dinesh Chandrasiri represented the FCIB. The matter is fixed for 18 September for further reports from FCID.