NAB chief seeks report from Rawalpindi bureau

Action against illegal housing schemes

Islamabad - Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (R) Javed Iqbal on Thursday sought report from NAB Rawalpindi regarding the actions taken against private and cooperative housing societies.

The NAB chief chaired a meeting to review the bureau’s performance regarding the actions taken so far against illegal private and cooperative housing societies in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

He immediately after taking over responsibilities as chairman NAB had directed taking inquiries and investigations against private/cooperative housing societies to their logical conclusion as per law.

The meeting was told that the NAB had asked the relevant departments including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take action against illegal private/cooperative housing societies and asked them to publish names of such societies in newspapers as well as to place the same on the websites of CDA, RDA and ICT in order to aware people at large through help of media to avoid investing in illegal schemes.

The chairman NAB reiterated his resolve to take action against all private/cooperative illegal housing societies besides recovering looted money from the defaulting societies and returning money to the affected people. He said that strict action would be taken against NAB officers on exhibiting negligence. He urged the people to invest their hard-earned money in only legal private/cooperative housing societies after thorough scrutiny and legal position as per law to avoid fraud at initial stage.

On the other hand, NAB Rawalpindi recovered millions of rupees and returned the same to MD of Shaheen Foundation. As per details, NAB Rawalpindi successfully realised recovery of over Rs1.83 billion from present management of Al-Hamra (Pvt) Ltd and Al Hamra Avenue through its chief executive and others.

The accused had failed to hand over the plots; rather the land was sold to other parties, depriving the members of Shaheen Foundation from their hard-earned money. During the inquiry, the present sponsors showed willingness in writing to return Rs573 million as a profit in addition to the principal amount.

In the first phase, Rs366 million were returned to Shaheen Foundation. In the second phase, Rs50 million were returned while in the third phase, Rs117.5 million were returned to the foundation. In the fourth and fifth phases, Rs137 million were returned to the affected investors, the meeting was told.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt