Daily Times

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore, under the supervision of Director General Amjad Majeed Aulakh, conducted its monthly open court session at the regional bureau office, here on Saturday.

The session was attended by over 250 affectees to seek justice and recovery of their looted money.

The DG listened to all affectees and issued on-the-spot instructions while updating them on the progress of their ongoing cases.

Affectees from various housing societies and Ponzi schemes, including State Life Cooperative Housing Society, Palm Vista Housing, Prime Zone, and Bold Vision, as well as employees of ForU Real Traders, New Lahore City project, Qasim Garden, Defence Paradise, Faisalabad and employees of Rahim Store participated in the Open Court session.

Regarding Palm Vista Housing, the DG NAB Lahore justified prompt action on complaints and revealed arrest of two directors named accused Mahmoud Tariq and Amer Azeem. The accused persons face allegations of embezzling Rs1.4 billion from 295 affectees in said scam. To further investigations and recovery of looted funds, the accused have been remanded to custody until October 30.

The DG also informed affectees that efforts are underway to repatriate the main absconding accused named Qasim Khan, through Interpol.

However, all movable and immovable assets of those involved in the fraud have been frozen.State Life Cooperative Housing Society affectees sought affiliation and NOC from NAB. The DG assured them that NAB Lahore will provide 6,750 affectees with developed plots worth Rs50-60 billion within a month. He also informed that NAB Lahore had previously helped 650 affectees of this Society in securing plots worth millions of rupees from the Society’s administration, ten years ago.

Regarding ForU Real Traders, DG NAB stated that NAB Lahore has received 800 claims worth Rs583 million and has got placed the accused on the Exit Control List (ECL) and assets details from other government departments are also sought. Further investigations are underway in the scam.

Talking to the Prime Zone affectees, DG NAB informed that key accused have been busted are under scanner of NAB, while he assured that the main accused namely Imran Ali, will be brought back through Interpol, and teams have been formed to arrest other absconding accused.

Addressing the affectees, DG stated that NAB Lahore’s top priority is to promptly recover losses. In the past year and a half, NAB Lahore has distributed Rs23 billion among 31,000 affectees. DG NAB also ensured a young orphan for full recovery of his funds, which would be delivered to his home.

The attendees praised NAB’s open court sessions and efforts to address their issues, calling them a “breath of fresh air.” They also appreciated Chairman NAB Lt. Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed’s people-friendly vision.