Inquiry likely against PHA's ex-official

LAHORE - An inquiry against PHA's former Task Force Chairman Mustafa Kamal, brother of close aide to Nawaz Sharif and PML-N central secretary information Chaudhry Ahsan Iqbal, is likely to be initiated soon for using his office in advancement of his business, The Nation has learnt here on Friday. The same inquiry was initiated by former Task Force on Administrative and Financial Issues Chairman Farogh Naveed on January 5 but soon it was hushed up. The launching of an inquiry for another time is being considered as originated from the governor's house, sources in PML-N disclosed. After the PPP-PML-N agreement to reconcile all disputes, people were hoping relatively less tension among the hardliners of both the parties. However, last Thursday former law minister Rana Sana Ullah flanked by PML-N Punjab president Zulfiqar Ali Khosa had strongly criticised Governor Punjab Salman Taseer by terming all his (Governor's) orders illegal provoking civil bureaucracy to decline accepting his orders during a press conference. They had also threatened to initiate legal proceedings against the people involved in ordering and obeying illegal orders. The PML-N sources revealed the ill-tempered governor after getting flared up over the issue, is planning to get an inquiry reinitiated against former PHA's Task Force Chairman Mustafa Kamal. Political experts have branded the culture of exchanging hot words between PPP and PML-N leaders as bad omen for the confidence building measures and reconciliation process. It may be recalled that an inquiry regarding the affairs of PHA had been forwarded by the Punjab chief minister secretariat in the light of a television programme wherein allegations of serious nature had been levelled against Kamal. However, the authority concerned had avoided taking any action. During the inquiry Mustafa Kamal was alleged to be a non-horticulturist who could not be appointed on a seat reserved for a technocrat because he did not carry the relevant qualification. He was also alleged for having a hand behind changing of four director generals in nine months. The sources said that Kamal was also accused of being involved in business transactions with the PHA during the previous government. He had his own firms like Horty Group, Plant Space and Plant Care, which provided plants to the PHA. They alleged that only to reward the Horty Group, the PHA had made it mandatory that all plants of a certain variety should be obtained from the group. The sources said that during the previous regime, Kamal with the help of a PHA director who is also his business partner, had obtained horticulture contracts worth millions of rupees. They said the contracts had been obtained for the Punjab University, Gujrat Campus and Liberty Park besides establishing an atrium at 8-Club Road. They said that only a couple of weeks ago, Kamal got released funds of Rs 4.7 million for his PU Gujrat Campus project which had a total value of more than Rs 15 million. That time, responding to inquiry, Mustafa Kamal had said that a mafia had launched a vilification campaign against him because he had uprooted corruption in the PHA. He alleged that a group of advertisers, after failing to woo him, was behind the campaign. Kamal had said that although he was entitled to withdrawing a salary of up to Rs 300,000 per month, he was working for free. He said he had brought designs worth hundreds of thousands of rupees to the PHA for free.

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