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Friday March 29, 2024

IHC directs FIA, NAB not to arrest ex-chief of CDA

By Faisal Kamal Pasha & Shahid Aslam
April 28, 2017

FIA summons 27 former, current officials in connection with probe into I-Constitution Avenue lease scam

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: In connection with the lease of I-Constitution Avenue about which an IHC bench had allowed FIA to proceed against the former bureaucrats and CDA officials for their role, a former chairman of CDA, Kamran Lashari, approached the court against harassment and imminent threat of being arrested by the agency.

An IHC division bench, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, directed the FIA not to arrest Lashari – currently serving as Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) project managing director – and some other former officials. However, it directed the petitioners to join investigation.

Beside Lashari, three other former CDA officials – member administration Shaukat Ali, member finance Kamran Ali Qureshi and member estate Asad Munir – are also petitioners in this case. They sought restraining orders in the matter of ongoing investigation regarding 99 years lease of I-Constitution Avenue to a builder BNP which was constructing a five-star hotel Grand Hyatt and serviced apartments there.

At the moment, both FIA and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) are conducting investigation into this matter after the CDA board cancelled the land lease for the said project and an IHC bench endorsed CDA decision finding serious irregularities in the process.

On April 19, an IHC division bench had vacated 14-month-old stay order against probe, enabling the investigation agencies to proceed against the former and incumbent officials allegedly involved in irregularities.

It is important to note that an IHC single-member bench on March 3, 2017 had said that “the (CDA) officials have been bending over backwards by extending undue benefits to the petitioner/company in complete disregard of the mandatory regulations, thus causing loss to the exchequer on the one hand and on the other enabling the petitioner/company to defraud and deceive members of the general public.”

Lashari and other petitioners through their counsel Tariq Mehmood Jehangiri have argued that they learnt through media that the court has stopped the investigation agency from taking coercive action against the builders but allowed the FIA to investigate and arrest the high-ranking CDA officials involved in the auction of I-Constitution Avenue, a 13.45 acre plot.

According to the petitioners, they have come to know through some reliable sources that due to some ulterior motives and in order to settle some personal vendetta, the FIA officials/ NAB authorities are trying to arrest them without due course of law.

The petitioners added that they had an unblemished service record and served the CDA from 2004 till 2010. They also served in different other government institutions and the award of lease was in accordance with law and codal formalities, they claimed.

It was after expiry of the petitioners’ tenure that the builder allegedly committed some irregularities. And later some issue also developed between the builder and the CDA, says the petition.

Former officials also argued that they were ready to face any inquiry/ investigation but had apprehensions that they would be harassed and arrested. The petitioners said they did their best for beautification and betterment of the federal capital. They prayed the court to direct both FIA and NAB not to arrest them and they would fully cooperate with the investigation teams.

The court, issuing a restraining order regarding arrest of the petitioners, issued notices to the interior secretary, FIA director general and NAB chairman. Earlier in the day, the FIA summoned 27 top officials of CDA to record statements in Grand Hyatt Hotel lease scam on Friday (today) at 11am.

According to the FIA officials, who sought anonymity, officials summoned by the investigators are: former chairman Kamran Lashari, former director EM-2 Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani, former director EM-2 SM Bukhari, former deputy director general (P) Mustafa Kamal Pasha, former director urban planning Iqbal Noor, former director planning Brig (r) Nusrat Ullah, former director law Ch Faiz Muhammad, former additional legal advisor Rai Nawaz Kharal, former member estate Asad Munir.

Former member administration Shoukat Ali, former member finance Kamran Ali Qureshi, deputy director general law Najma Azhar, former director PMO Dr Faisal Awan, former member engineering Moeen Kakakhel, former director estate management Aslam Chaudhry, former member finance Azhar Ali, former deputy director regional planning Khaliq ur Rehman, former director PMO Ahmad Hamayun Toro, Director Regional Planning Shafique Ali Siddique, former member planning Mustafain Kazmi, former member admin Sikander Hayat Mekan, former member admin Munir Ch, deputy director general EM-2 Saad Ullah Khan, former member engineering Sanaullah Aman, manager accounts Farhan ul Haq, former member estate Shaista Sohail and former Manager Projects Khawar Saeed Khan.

According to the FIA officials, the former as well as serving CDA former have been summoned under Section 160 of CrPC in Inquiry No 84/2015 registered with FIA Corporate Crime Circle, Lahore.