Ex-COAS Kayani’s brother appears before NAB

ISLAMABAD: In a major development in the Defence Housing Authority-Islamabad case, Brig (retd) Amjad Pervaiz Kayani, brother of ex-Chief of Army Staff General (retd) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday and recorded his statement pleading that neither his COAS brother had any role in his businesses nor did he or his younger brother Kamran Kayani commit any wrong, well-placed sources in the Bureau told The News.

The sources said that the ex-army chief’s brother appeared before the investigators of NAB Rawalpindi in a case of selling non-saleable certificates of Rs500 million of DHA-Islamabad farmhouses project. The sources said that Amjad Kayani told the investigators that his brother, ex-COAS General (retd) Kayani, had no role in his business and that his brothers were independently running their businesses. He said that he and Kamran Kayani had not committed any wrong while doing their real estate businesses, sources in the NAB said.

Just a week ago, the NAB Rawalpindi had arrested two retired military officers and a civilian officer as the main accused in connection with the DHA Islamabad farmhouse project scam amounting to Rs500 million. Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal, who is the ex-administrator of DHA, and Col (retd) Sabahat Qadeer Butt, ex-director project of DHA, were arrested for misusing their authority and violating the contract by

 DHA, were arrested for misusing their authority and violating the contract by selling allotment certificates of DHA Islamabad illegally and in violation of agreement between DHA and Elysium Holdings Pakistan Ltd, NAB had officially said.

The NAB statement had said the management of Elysium Holdings in connivance with the ex-management of DHA has caused a huge loss by not completing the project named DHA-I Ranches and sold certificates of the project in violation of contract agreement. A formal inquiry into the scam is under process at NAB, Rawalpindi.

A few months back a notice was issued to Kamran Kayani to join the NAB investigations but as he was abroad and could not appear before NAB Rawalpindi, which finds his role in the DHA farmhouses Islamabad project scams.

It is said that the DHA Islamabad had initially decided to launch a farmhouse scheme for which it had signed a deal with the Eden Company, which was to acquire the land for the scheme. However, since the required quantity of land could not be acquired, the scheme was abandoned.

It is said that the Eden Company had engaged Elysium Holdings Pakistan Limited for the purchase of land. A formula was evolved under which the owner of 32 kanal of land was to be provided with a farmhouse. An allotment certificate was to be issued to all such owners. It is said that despite the abandonment of the farmhouse scheme by the DHA, a total of 180 certificates were issued to local owners of the land that was never acquired or purchased. It caused a huge liability for the DHA as despite abandonment of the projects, there were 180 allotment certificates issued. It is said that almost 120 such allotment certificates were retrieved but the remaining over 50 are still with the owners concerned who seek physical possession. In this project, the DHA Islamabad claims a loss of Rs500 million whereas the Elysium Holdings claims to have transferred approx 6,000 kanal of land to the DHA with an approx value of Rs12 billion.

The NAB connects Kamran Kayani with Elysium and believes that Kamran was one of the owners of the private company. Karman Kayani’s elder brother Brig (R) Amjad Kayani was, however, reported to have denied any wrong on part of his younger brother, insisting that he had left Elysium Holdings in 2007 well before it got into a deal with the DHA in the farmhouse project. On Wednesday, Amjad Kayani appeared before NAB Rawalpindi to present his and his younger brother’s version before the investigators.