Mohsin Habib Warraich, considered a close aide and confidante of former spy chief Lt Gen (retired) Faiz Hameed, has allegedly left Pakistan to travel to the UK. Some quarters have speculated that Mohsin left Pakistan ostensibly to evade any potential investigation linked to the military trial of the powerful general by his institution on charges of corruption and abuse of power.
Mohsin is the son of former national assembly member and Federal Defence Production Minister Major (retired) Habibullah Warraich. He was allegedly a central figure in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam worth over Rs2 billion. From 2010 onwards, he lived in exile in London for several years until Lt Gen Faiz Hameed paved the way for his return to Pakistan sometime in the last decade but not before allegedly guaranteeing his safety and protection from the government over his legal troubles.
Mohsin is believed to have managed many business dealings for the retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief from 2014 to the present.
Sources within Pakistan's security setup claimed that Mohsin had allegedly travelled to London via Dubai. They added that the security services were keen to speak to Mohsin about the ongoing investigations into Lt Gen Faiz Hameed's activities, who is accused of abusing his power and raiding a private property development business in Islamabad while working at ISI.
Building trust
It is believed that Mohsin and the former spy chief became close when the latter was attending the UK Royal Defence College in London for two years as a brigadier (one-star general). Lt Gen Faiz trusted Mohsin, who allegedly used to arrange requests for the former, including shopping sprees and entertainment. They also quickly began to trust each other because Lt Gen Faiz's father-in-law and Mohsin's father, Habibullah Warraich, had apparently been batch mates in the Kakul military academy during their youth.
During his time in London, Mohsin used a convertible Rolls Royce with a private number plate. It was the same vehicle which Lt Gen Faiz and his family members had allegedly used during their trips to London. Mohsin also owns vehicles in Pakistan and Dubai and like the Rolls Royce in London, they all have custom licence plates with an extensive use of the number '7' in the number plates. The significance of the sequence of the number '777' comes from his date of birth, January 7, 1977.
Lt Gen Faiz went on to lead the ISI during Imran Khan's administration, from 2019 to 2021, before taking early retirement from the armed forces in December 2022. After returning to Pakistan from London in late 2015 and resuming his duties in the military, Lt Gen Faiz was appointed as the DGC—the head of counterintelligence affairs inside Pakistan—in the military's powerful intelligence wing. He allegedly abused these powers to benefit himself and those close to him.
While Lt Gen Faiz remains in military custody today pending a field general court martial (FGCM) along with several of his alleged retired military associates, Mohsin has returned to life in London.
Returning to Pakistan
Mohsin had first moved to London from Pakistan in 2010, allegedly to dodge several orders from Pakistani courts to return to Pakistan. He, however, only returned to Pakistan after Lt Gen Faiz managed to convince the courts not to arrest Mohsin as soon as he landed in the country. Lt Gen Faiz is believed to have allegedly managed this thanks to his relationship with judges such as the former chief justice Saqib Nisar. A source in the Pakistani intelligence community claimed that Lt Gen Faiz had allegedly used his muscle to obtain a clean chit for Mohsin.
After returning to Pakistan, Mohsin immediately became the unofficial chief of staff for Lt Gen Faiz.
Throughout his time in Pakistan, Mohsin allegedly enjoyed a close security cordon, which sources said was ostensibly arranged by Lt Gen Faiz and paid for by the Pakistani taxpayer. Those who knew him recalled that Mohsin would often boast that Lt Gen Faiz provided unmarked security vehicles to always escort him.
In return, Mohsin travelled the world, allegedly acting as Lt Gen Faiz's de facto representative, negotiating and executing deals. He would often introduce himself as an arms dealer working for the Pakistani military and would back up this claim by having Lt Gen Faiz confirm it. Sources claimed that Mohsin visited Russia at least once, where he allegedly represented Lt Gen Faiz to secure a major arms deal.
The intelligence community claimed that Lt Gen Faiz was, in fact, going above and beyond merely confirming Mohsin's role as an official representative of the military.
The deals were not restricted to just arms and allegedly covered several other sectors. In a separate incident involving the Russian anti-Covid vaccine Sputnik, Mohsin allegedly faced resistance from the official dealer for the vaccine based in Dubai. The dealer had the exclusive rights to sell the vaccine in Pakistan, but upon Lt Gen Faiz's alleged intervention, it was communicated to the dealer in no uncertain terms that the only way the Sputnik vaccine would be allowed in Pakistan would be through Mohsin. This allegedly compelled the dealer to reluctantly negotiate with Mohsin, who ostensibly secured the multimillion-dollar sale of the vaccine to the Pakistan Army. This deal could now become a focal point in the investigation against Lt Gen Faiz due to suspicions of massive commissions being earned by the former spy chief.
Mohsin's domain was not restricted to commercial transactions. Official sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that Mohsin allegedly had access to senior officials within the intelligence apparatus to directly call judges of the high court and pressurise them into giving favourable judgements.
Lt Gen Faiz's confidante is also accused of being the mastermind of a political move that, if it had been successful, would have given the duo the license to run the country's most populous and richest Punjab province. Several senior leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have confirmed that Lt Gen Faiz had reportedly lobbied to make Mohsin's father-in-law, Mohammad Nasir Khan - who had previously served as a federal health minister during former dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf's tenure (2002-2007) - as Punjab's interim chief minister.
The PTI proposed Nasir Khan's name for the slot after Imran Khan allegedly received a telephone call from Lt Gen Faiz in early 2023 when Chaudhry Pervez Elahi's dissolved the Punjab assembly.
Sources in the military claim they have evidence that Lt Gen Faiz was lobbying for Nasir Khan even though by that time Lt Gen Faiz had voluntarily retired from the armed forces and was not supposed to be meddling in politics.
Widening the net
Moreover, Mohsin's wife, Beenish Khan (now Beenish Habib Warraich) has also been under scrutiny in the UK in connection with Mohsin's NICL case. When Mohsin was under investigation during the NICL case, the Pakistani government reportedly wrote to the UK to provide information about him. Beenish was put under surveillance by the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and her account at Barclays was allegedly closed.
In Lahore, Dubai, and London circles, she is known for her extravagant lifestyle and allegedly extensive collection of designer Hermes bags, luxury watches and jewellery, and luxury vehicles, including Range Rovers, Mercedes, and BMWs. In fact, Mohsin's Rolls Royce in London was allegedly registered under her name.
Thanks to the favours offered by Lt Gen Faiz, Mohsin now ostensibly owns several assets around the world and is frequently seen in some of the most exclusive restaurants and private member clubs (especially the exclusive Arts Club on Dover Street, London) in Dubai and London. Intelligence agencies believe that Lt Gen Faiz has a share in these assets under [benaami] (proxy ownership).
Before this article was published, Mohsin was sent a list of detailed questions regarding the accusations levelled against him, but he failed to respond to any of these directly.