A prominent businessman and Rotarian accused of conning doctor couple out of retirement funds

A PROMINENT businessman and Rotarian has been accused of conning a couple out of their retirement funds.

Zaffar Khan.

A PROMINENT businessman and Rotarian has been accused of conning a couple out of their retirement funds.

Zaffar Iqubal Khan, a property spruiker with Liberal National Party links, has been taken to court by Toowoomba doctors Ellis and Margaret Gibson.

The Gibsons say in Supreme Court documents that Mr Khan convinced them to invest more than $1.1 million into after-hours medical service Dial a Local Doctor.

But the deal allegedly had a “dishonest or fraudulent design”, with Mr Khan accused of siphoning off funds and declaring: “Money gone, money mine.”

Mr Khan “categorically denied” being engaged in fraud or dishonesty and accused rival after-hours doctor services of trying to undermine his business.

The Gibsons ran Toowoomba’s Wyalla Plaza Medical Centre together for almost 20 years before Margaret had to retire in 2010 due to a rare auto-immune disorder which requires regular hospital treatment.

Her husband Ellis, a doctor for almost 40 years, was also diagnosed with cancer in 2012, court documents say.

Mr Khan met the Gibsons at their home to discuss his “very successful” Brisbane doctor service.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg had attended the official launch of the service when he was health minister and praised it as a “fantastic initiative”.

Mr Khan, a former taxi driver, told the Gibsons of his plans for a similar business in Toowoomba, court documents say.

“I’ve got a Pakistani taxi driver’s face and I need a white face, who’s a known and trusted doctor in the area. I’m 100 per cent honest,” he is said to have told the couple.

Mr Khan confided he was once bankrupt in New Zealand but said he already had hundreds of accredited doctors, the documents say.

The couple “trusted Khan implicitly”, with Dr Gibson saying they “took great comfort” in his impending Archerfield Rotary Club presidency.

The Gibsons initially invested $550,000 for half the Toowoomba business, before Mr Khan told them of his national expansion plans.

They invested another $550,000 for half the Australian business, after being told the price would double in a month and rise to $5 million in two months.

But the deal soured and Mr Khan or companies under his control withdrew money without consent, diverted Medicare benefits and failed to distribute profits, it is alleged.

Dr Gibson writes that he set up a medical centre, which Mr Khan equipped. It operated for one day and saw only three patients before Dr Gibson was told it did not have suitable paperwork and was illegal to operate. Locks were changed and when Dr Gibson got inside it was an empty shell. Five cars were missing.

Mr Khan allegedly told the couple that if they brought in a lawyer “I’ll bring 20 bloody lawyers against you”.

The Gibsons are seeking unspecified damages.

Mr Khan had not yet filed his defence but issued a statement saying the “minor territorial battle” should not diminish public confidence in after-hours doctor services.