LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a latest development in Rs 15 billion DHA City Lahore scam has confiscated around 1,300 kanals of land owned by the scam major accused and owners of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd, The News has learnt.
The NAB confiscated around 1300 kanals of land from owners/directors of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd including Hammad Arshad and Murad Arshad a month or so back, a senior NAB official told The News on condition of anonymity. The land was confiscated after recording the statement of Murad Arshad, arrested in May 2016.
Nowadays, a settlement issue is also being discussed with Hammad and Murad, he said. Similarly, the official said, “NAB investigators are also planning to write interior ministry another letter reminding it about a pending issue.
“We had written to the interior ministry early this year for issuance of red warrant for Kamran Kayani, brother of former army chief retired Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and Tariq Siddique to pursue the case with Interpol in bringing them back to face the charges of their alleged involvement in DHA City Lahore scam,” the NAB official said.
The bureau will ask the ministry to get the help of Interpol in bringing back Kamran and Tariq to the country at the earliest, he said, adding both the accused after being declared as proclaimed offenders (POs) by a court have been going into hiding in a country abroad for the last one year or so.
It may be relevant to mention here that the NAB arrested Hammad Arshad, the owner of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd, Project Director of the DHA City Lahore, retired Brig Khalid Nazir Butt and Murad Arshad, Director of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd, and other accused in the case. All these accused are in judicial custody these days. NAB already filed a reference against the prime suspect, Hammad Arshad, Kayani and others in an accountability court last year.
According to NAB, Globaco had signed an agreement with the DHA-EME in Nov 2009 to develop the DHA City Lahore on a 25,000 kanals of land near Thokar Niaz Beg. The firm managed to purchase only 13,103 kanals of the land and that too in scattered areas.
Arshad collected Rs15.47bn from the public by issuing allotment letters and later transferred the money to his personal accounts. The accused used the funds for personal gains and invested them in other business ventures, the bureau said. NAB said because no meaningful development work was undertaken in the DHA City, the accused cheated on general public and families of soldiers and martyrs by depriving them of their hard-earned money.
There are more than 11,700 affected persons in DHA City Lahore. Sarfraz Hussain, the interior ministry spokesman, wasn’t available for comments despite repeated attempts were made at his cellphone number through calls and text messages.
When contacted, a spokesman of NAB confirmed that the bureau was planning to write another letter to the interior ministry reminding it to get red notices for Kamran and Tariq and to get them back with the help of Interpol. To a question, he said the matter was still under investigation but added that the same would be completed soon. NAB will conclude the probe on merit, he stated.
