Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all the parties in the Employees Old-age Benefit Institution (EOBI) corruption case to appear before the court with proper preparation. A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Athar Minallah heard the suo motu notice case. Former SC chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had taken the suo motu notice of the multi-billion scam in which the then EOBI chairman Zafar Iqbal Gondal and other officials were accused of investing huge sums in housing schemes and purchasing vehicles in various cities without the approval of the institution’s board of directors. During the course of proceedings, EOBI’s counsel said the Institution had decided to retain the properties. He said that the sellers should also pay additional purchase price and markup to the property selling agency. To this, the chief justice said that the issues were the purchase of properties with public funds. The counsel for sellers said that his clients had objection to EOBI conditions. EOBI retained the property or returned it to the sellers, he added. He said that EOBI stated that it wanted to retain the property and on other hand also demanding the sellers to pay the additional amount. EOBI was also demanding markup on additional amount, he added. He said that the sellers had deposited the amount with the Supreme Court Registrar. The Chief Justice said that the property prices had also increased and EOBI therefore wanted to retain the properties. The court also issued notice on the petition to unfreeze the accounts of DHA. Later, hearing of the case was adjourned for one month.