Remand of DHA City scam accused extended

LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday extended for further 14 days physical remand of the prime suspect in Rs16 billion DHA City (Lahore) land acquisition scam.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produced the suspect-Hammad Arshad before the court and sought extension in his custody. The investigation officer told the court that further physical remand of the accused was required for completing the probe. After hearing the plea, the court extended the remand by February 20.

The suspect – CEO of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd – is allegedly involved in corruption and cheating public at large.

According to NAB, the suspect’s company had secured a contract from DHA-EME in 2009 to acquire 25,000-kanal of land for establishing DHA City. However, the company failed to acquire the land and issued allotment letters and collected around Rs15.47 billion from public.

The suspect is accused of transferring the amount to his personal accounts and using the same for other business.

The bureau also probed into the alleged role of Elysium Holdings Pakistan Limited of Kamran Kayani, brother of former army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, and other companies in the scam.

Last year, NAB had issued a notice to Kamran Kayani in connection with an investigation into the alleged illegal sale of allotment letters of DHA Islamabad.