LAHORE – The Punjab Anti corruption Establishment will register new case against elements responsible in Ring Road scam, as it believes that the former FIR did not carry enough allegations for the proceedings, an investigator of ACE told The Nation.
An investigation team comprising senior members of Special Investigation Unit had been formed to probe the scam where billions of rupees have allegedly been embezzled, while the authorities remained unmoved. ACE had formed the Special Investigation Unit constituting senior bureaucrats, retired judges and other senior experts including Nasir Javed, Abdul Kahliq Khan and a deputy director investigation, Rao Nasir Jamil who was supposed to assist them.
A senior ACE official seeking anonymity said: “There are different types of irregularities in the Ring Road project like bogus claims prepared by officers of different departments, cheques issued in the name of the people who are no more in this world. Payments were made and attempts were made to pay to the people who were not the bona fide owners of the land. All it was done with the connivance of the officers of the Revenue Department.”
He further told this paper that officers from Revenue department were arrested but they took plea that the ownership certificates were issued in accordance with the law and now it was the duty of Land Acquisition authorities to verify that how much land fell in Ring Road project.
When asked, the investigator said that a new FIR would be registered against the people found responsible in the matter and they would be arrested accordingly. He added that so far no political figure had been found involved in the scam, since politicians always use the names of other people to save their skin. The Ring Road corruption case was also discussed in Punjab Assembly where Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, responded to the remarks of oppositions leader Dr Samia Amjad, by saying that the PML-Q government obliged land mafia through changes in the actual design of the Lahore Ring Road.
On a point of order, Shahbaz challenged the assertions of Dr Samia about the last governments’ achievements. “I will bring complete facts and figures in the House”, he promised.