LAHORE - The FIA has recommended the Interior Ministry to put the names of Abdul Aleem Khan and Senator Gulzar case on Exit Control List (ECL), due to their alleged involvement in the Employees Old age Benefit Institution (EOBI) scam.
FIA investigators told TheNation on Tuesday that the land-acquiring deals of the EOBI were not only on made on higher prices than the market rate but also in a non-transparent manner, which caused huge loss to the EOBI.
Investigators said that names of 11 owners of the pieces of land sold to the EOBI were recommended to be put on the ECL.  The FIA officials informed the Supreme Court that out of the 11 sellers, six voluntarily agreed to return the money, amounting to Rs7.87 billion, to the EOBI, and had filed affidavits in this regard.
According to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, all procuring agencies within and outside Pakistan, are required to post tenders of over Rs50 million on PPRA’s website. However, the advertisements were in violation of rule 7 of the Public Procurement Regulations 2008, because no tenders were posted on the PPRA or the EOBI’s website, investigators added.
The land owners had not even participated in the bidding process in response to the advertisement, but their properties were purchased by the EOBI.
Abdul Aleem Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Lahore president, talking to the media on Tuesday, confessed that he had sold land and he was ready for the settlement of the issue.
Instead of directly answering weather his is on the ECL or not, he said: “I will not go abroad until the conclusion of the EOBI case.  He added: I am a businessman and I will sell the property to everyone no matter who so ever is the buyer; whether he is a dacoit, robber or smuggler.”
He said that deal was matured through a middle man but did not reveal the name of the middle man.
An FIA team from Lahore has gone to Islamabad to attend the hearing of the EOBI case in the Supreme Court today.