Summary NAB to investigate the Metro Bus Project.
Dunya News Report (Yaruq Malik)
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has launched an investigation against the Metro Bus Project in Lahore. It is reported that NAB has asked the Punjab Mass Transit Authority to provide all the necessary documentation related to the 27-km Metro Bus Project in Lahore.
NAB has also asked for information about the senior project officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) and the Planning and Development Department.
The Chief Engineer at the LDA, Israr Saeed, has claimed that NAB contacted the LDA three years ago and was given copies of the documents regarding the Metro Bus Project. He added that NAB has not contacted since. However, the Chief Engineer at LDA said that if NAB contacts again, the LDA would co-operate without hesitation.
“NAB has not asked us to provide documents related to the metro bus project in recent days. When they had contacted us three years ago, they sought various documents about the project. We provided copies of a number of documents to NAB at that time. However, we will always welcome NAB if it wants to know more about the project,” the Chief Engineer at LDA said.
Previously, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to provide details on the plea bargain act and ordered the bureau to provide a complete list of officers who have been hired by NAB from other institutions.
Justice Amir Hani Muslim has questioned the recent hiring made by NAB and has asked for the total number of people who are working at senior positions in the bureau for accountability. Justice Amir criticized the NAB for misusing the plea bargain act and questioned the Chairman NAB for the credibility of the act used by the institution as a process of consolidation in major corruption cases.
“Under the plea bargain act, a man accused of corruption charges worth Rs.100 million is released if he provides Rs. 10 million, then the same man is restored in his office where he gets involved in more corruption worth Rs. 200 million, what sort of a process is this?” said the judge in his remarks.
The Justice further added that if procedures under NAB continue in the same manner, then NAB should be shut down immediately.
“If this is how NAB works, it must be shut down,” Said Justice Amir.
After extreme criticism, the National Accountability Bureau provided the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a total of 150 ‘mega corruption’ cases worth billions of rupees. The document included the likes of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and many other prominent personalities.
The document consisted of ex-ministers, bureaucrats, former premiers who had been accused of misuse of power, state resources, and corruption in their scope of work.
The Sharif family is accused for constructing a road from Raiwind to Sharif family house worth Rs 126 million.
Similarly, Ex-Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is accused under the ‘assets beyond resources’ case worth Rs 2,428 billion. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is also under similar cases worth millions of pounds and dollars.
Pakistan People’s Party’s former Ambassador to the U.S.A, Hussain Haqqani is also under the spot light for embezzling funds and issuing licenses to private companies.
Ex-Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is accused of corruption and mishandling of resources for the rental power plants case. Moreover, Ex-President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari is accused of assets beyond resources and corruption cases worth US$ 22 billion and US$ 1.5 billion.
Business tycoons Schon Group and Younus Habib are also part of the document for being on default for Rs 1,245billion and Rs 3 billion respectively.
From Baluchistan, former Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani is under scrutiny for allegedly having assets beyond resources worth Rs 100 million.
Furthermore, former Interior Minister Aftab Sher Pao, Ghazi Akhtar of Tandiyanwal Sugar Mills, former Chairman of National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) Ayaz Khan Niazi and another ex-Chairman of NICL Abid Jawed for billions of rupees.
Moreover, two retired military officers were arrested with a civilian by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for allegedly being a part of the DHA Islamabad farmhouse scam amounting to Rs500 million.
A press release issued by NAB reported that the ex-administrator of DHA, Brigadier (retd) Javed Iqbal and ex-director project DHA, Colonel (retd) Sabahat Qadeer Butt were arrested for misusing their authority by selling illegal allotment certificates of DHA Islamabad. The retired military officers are also accused of breaching agreements between DHA and Elysium Holdings Pakistan Ltd.
According to the NAB report, Waseem Aslam, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Elysium Holdings, is accused of causing a loss of Rs500 million to DHA and for the illegal selling of non-saleable certificates without paying the landowners. NAB arrested Javed Iqbal and Sabahat Qadeer Butt from Rawalpindi while Waseem Aslam was arrested from Lahore.
Interestingly, Elysium Holdings is owned by Kamran Kayani who is the younger brother of former army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Kamran Kayani is also facing corruption charges in the Rs16 billion DHA City (Lahore) scam. According to reports, Kamran Kayani is living abroad these days.
Elysium Holdings is under NAB inquiry since April, 2015 for the alleged sale of allotment certificates for the DHA Islamabad farmhouse project fraud which is estimated at Rs500 million. Elysium Holdings is also accused of helping Globaco (Pvt) Ltd to acquire the DHA City project in Lahore. Hammad Arshad, the owner of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd, is already under arrest on charges of corruption and cheating.
Brigadier Amjad Pervez Kayani said that General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has nothing to do with the business and actions of his brothers.
After facing criticism and a possible shutdown from Justice Amir Hani Muslim, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is striking hard against corruption cases across the country. NAB has provided the Supreme Court of Pakistan with ample evidence of alleged ‘foul play’ across Pakistan. The forthcoming hearings of these trials will ensure whether these allegations are authentic or mere accusations.
