Assets beyond income: NAB to conduct inquiry against Sharjeel Memon

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Thursday ordered director general NAB, Karachi to conduct complaint verification against Sindh former minister and PPP leader Sharjeel Memon allegedly for having assets beyond known sources of income.

The NAB chairman also ordered the director general NAB, Rawalpindi to conduct complaint verification against sale of electricity on exorbitant tariff to Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) by IPPs in connivance with Nepra.

The NAB chairman’s directions, to Karachi NAB DG, for complaint verification against Sharjeel Memon came after the details of assets which he submitted in his nomination papers to the Election Commission of Pakistan for contesting the elections from PS-63 (Hyderabad. The Chairman NAB also directed filing case against him in the NAB accusing Sharjeel Memon of accumulating assets beyond known source of income.

A case against Sharjeel Memon is already being heard in the Accountability Court in Karachi in a corruption case pertaining to the award of advertisements at 'exorbitant rates' through the abuse of power.

Sharjeel Memon is also facing a separate reference regarding illegal adjustment and consolidation of hundreds of acres of land in favour of a private housing project. According to his asset details, Sharjeel Memon owns an apartment worth Rs50 million in Dubai and his wife owns an apartment worth Rs98.9 million in Dubai.

Memon also possesses three cars worth Rs39,570,000 as per the documents. The former Sindh information minister has also submitted that he owns Rs87,091,389 in prize bonds and cash. Memon’s wife, according to the statement of assets shows that she has an amount of Rs22,979,000 in bank accounts.

He has claimed that he owns furniture and various items worth Rs2.5 million. The PPP leader’s wife owns shares worth Rs3 million in International Gulf Group, owns a house in Karachi’s Defence area worth Rs4.4 million and a property worth Rs9.7 million in the same area and owns a property worth Rs150,080,000 in Tharparkar.

Meanwhile, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman, Justice (retd) JavedIqbal, took a notice of the Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s act of approving the cancelled layout plan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Abdul Aleem Khan’s housing society “Park View Enclave”.

The NAB chairman directed the director general NAB, Rawalpindi for the complaint verification as to how the CDA board approved cancelling the layout design of a private housing society and whether all the the legal obligations were fulfilled while doing so. “It is the responsibility of NAB to save the peoples’ money,” he said.

It is to be mentioned here that Aleem Khan’s Park View Enclave is among 100 illegal housing societies advertised by the CDA, but after Aleem Khan constructed 100 feet road to his housing society, the authority also restored the cancelled layout plan of his housing society.

While addressing the high level meeting at the NAB headquarters in which the performance of the NAB Operational Division was reviewed, NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal said the recovery of the looted money from private housing societies is the main priority.

The meeting was told that NAB has ensured return of over Rs2.2 billion looted amount to the victims of 10 housing societies within seven months.

The NAB chairman also directed the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration to submit details of private and cooperative housing societies to NAB, besides displaying their particulars on the websites of respective institution like CDA, RDA and ICT.

He directed that the details of illegal housing societies must be advertised in newspapers order to inform the people about illegal societies so they could be warned against investing in illegal societies.

The NAB chairman also sought details about allowing such private and cooperative housing societies to issue NOC and approving layout plans without completion of all legal formalities. “Why relevant regularities remained silent over plundering of billions of hard earned money of the innocent people who invested in various societies which are not legal,” he asked.