islamabad - The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought details of bank accounts of implementation committee members of Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus project to investigate alleged corruption in this mega project, The Nation learnt yesterday.
The NAB has written a letter to State Bank of Pakistan in this regard and asked the SBP to provide bank accounts details of former MNA Hanif Abbasi, former MNA Shakeel Awan, ex-commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed and chairman Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA). The authority also requested the SBP to provide bank transactions of all committee members from day one after the notification of the committee, sources added.
Sources said that the NAB has taken all record of the project in its custody and started the investigation of alleged corruption of Rs 300 million in tenders of elevators of Metro Bus Project after receiving complaints in this regard a few months back. Talking to The Nation, NAB spokesman Asim Ali Nawazish confirmed that NAB asked the SBP to provide bank details of all members of implementation committee which was notified by Punjab government for looking after the matters of the project.
When The Nation contacted the Chairman Implementation Committee Hanif Abbasi, he said the NAB launched the investigation on anonymous complaint against the respected members of committee. He claimed the NAB would not find any proof of corruption. He said the implementation committee was constituted three months after the tendering of the project and it had no link with the financial issues of project.
He said it was purely Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s project and he monitored all issues related to the project himself. All members own this project and are ready to present themselves before NAB for any kind of investigation, he said.
However, he claimed that no member of implementation committee has so far any intimation from the NAB in this regard.