World

Illegal Rave In Bevercotes Resolved Peacefully By Police

Published

6 years ago

October 13, 2019

police stop a crowd of people with tear gas

This past Sunday, September 15th, police were called to respond to an illegal rave in Bevercotes. The rave was allegedly going on at a former colliery, which made for an ideal location to rave in. This is part of a larger trend of illegal raves that have been taking place in the UK, with hundreds having been reported within the last year.

This rave luckily remained nonviolent, with no arrests being made. Apparently, the police did their best to remain peaceful during confrontations with ravers. This is in stark contrast to typical police response to raves, which can often turn quite ugly. In late August, police arrested nearly one hundred rave-goers at an illegal event in Ibiza, Spain. That occasion did turn violent, with angered partygoers attacking officers with rocks and even metal pipes, allegedly.

The rave was called in by concerned locals who were concerned over reports of loud music coming from a quite unexpected place. The colliery in question has been unused for quite some time, and residents haven’t heard any sort of activity coming from there in quite some time, so it was obviously quite a surprise when in the early hours of Sunday bass thumpings and high treble whines were heard coming from the cavernous party space.

While the rave was obviously loud enough to awaken slumbering locals, the number of people apprehended at the event was quite small. There were only a reported 80-100 revellers being asked to leave. While it is unknown whether or not there were more partygoers at one point, by the time police arrived most of them might’ve scurried off.

Of those there, most were definitely hardcore ravegoers, and were dressed to the nines in typical fashions]. Rave Clothing men wore to the event was brightly colored and athletic in nature. As of yet, there have been no mentions of any gang or criminal activity among the rave-goers, and none of the outfits worn by the partiers suggested any obvious gang affiliation. Although drug use was reported by concerned locals, police found no evidence of any illegal drugs. However, there is the possibility that most of them might’ve been consumed by the time police officers were able to arrive on the scene.

On the whole, this rave event ended just about as well as one could hope, with zero casualties, overdoses, or any other unfortunate happenings taking place. Except, of course, the party being broken up to begin with. This isn’t the first time that a rave has been broken up at this colliery, with another taking place in early July of this year. As is, it’s likely that even more raving events will take place at the scene, as it makes for an ideal location that is relatively far from locals and currently vacant by any professional company or local resident. Police seem to feel the same way, as evidenced by the strategy of peaceful resolution through verbal communication with the rave organizers. As is, this might be a pretty efficient solution to the problem of illegal raves in the UK.

Enjoy a rave music mix below on our blog.

World

TRG Chairman Khaishgi and CEO Aslam implicated in $150 million fraud

Published

6 days ago

June 23, 2025

Jenny Jackson

In a scathing 52-page decision, the Sindh High Court has found that TRG Pakistan’s management was acting fraudulently and that Bermuda-based Greentree Holdings historic and prospective purchase of TRG shares were illegal, fraudulent and oppressive.

The Sindh High Court has further directed TRGP to immediately hold board elections that have been overdue and illegally withheld by the existing board since January 14, 2025.

In the landmark ruling, the Sindh High Court has blocked the attempted takeover of TRG Pakistan Limited by Greentree Holdings, declaring that the shares acquired by Greentree, nearly 30% of TRG’s stock, were unlawfully financed using TRG’s funds in violation of Section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2017.

“Having concluded that the affairs of TRGP are being conducted in an unlawful and fraudulent manner and in a manner oppressive to members such as the Petitioner (Zia Chishti), the case falls for corrective orders under sub-section (2) of section 286 of the Companies Act,” Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry concluded.

The case was brought by TRGP former CEO and founder Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti against TRG Pakistan, its associate TRG International and TRG International’s wholly-owned shell company Greentree Limited. In addition, the case named AKD Securities for managing Greentree’s illegal tender offer as well as various regulators requiring that they act to perform their regulatory duties.

The case centred around the dispute that shell company Greentree Limited was fraudulently using TRG Pakistan’s own funds to purchase TRG Pakistan’s shares in order to give control to Zia Chishti’s former partners Mohammed Khaishgi, Hasnain Aslam and Pinebridge Investments.

According to the case facts, the Chairman of TRG Pakistan Mohammed Khaishgi and the CEO of TRG Pakistan Hasnain Aslam masterminded the $150 million fraud. They did so together with Hong Kong based fund manager Pinebridge who has two nominees on TRG Pakistan’s board, Mr. John Leone and Mr. Patrick McGinnis.

According to the court papers, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis set up a shell company called Greentree which they secretly controlled and from which they started buying up shares of TRG Pakistan. The fraud was that Greentree was using TRG Pakistan’s funds itself. The idea was to give Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis control over TRG Pakistan even though they owned less than 1% of the company, lawyers of the petitioner told the court.

This was all part of a broader battle for control over TRG Pakistan that is raging between Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis on one side and TRG Pakistan founder Zia Chishti on the other side. Zia Chishti has been trying to retake control of TRG Pakistan after he was forced to resign in 2021 based on sexual misconduct allegations made by a former employee of his. This year those allegations were shown to be without basis in litigation that Chishti launched in the United Kingdom against The Telegraph newspaper which had printed the allegations. The Telegraph was forced to apologize for 13 separate articles it published about Chishti and paid him damages and legal costs.

After Chishti resigned in 2021, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis moved to take total control over TRG Pakistan and its various subsidiaries including TRG International and to block out Chishti. The Sindh High Court’s ruling today has reversed that effort, ruling the scheme fraudulent, illegal, and oppressive.

It now appears that Zia Chishti will take control of TRG Pakistan in short order when elections are called. He and his family are now the largest shareholders with over 30% interest. He is closely followed by companies related to Jahangir Siddiqui & Company which have over a 20% interest. The result appears to be a complete vindication for Zia Chishti and damning for his rivals Aslam, Khaishgi, Leone, and McGinnis who have been ruled to have been conducting a fraud.

TRG Pakistan’s share price declined by over 8% on the news on heavy volume. Market experts say that this was because the tender offer at Rs 75 was gone and that now shares would trade closer to their natural value. Presently the shares are trading at Rs 59 per share.

According to the court ruling, since 2021, shell company Greentree had purchased approximately 30% of TRG shares using $80 million of TRG’s own money, which means that that the directors of TRG Pakistan allowed company assets to be funneled through offshore affiliates TRG International and Greentree for acquiring TRG’s shares – a move deemed both fraudulent and oppressive to minority shareholders. The Sindh High Court also found illegal Greentree’s further attempt to purchase another 35% of TRG shares using another $70 million of TRG’s money in a tender offer.

The ruling is a major victory for the tech entrepreneur Zia Chishti against his former partners and the legal ruling paves the way for him to take control of TRG in a few weeks.