Daily Times

LAHORE: Homeland Real Estate and Builders (HREB) and Paragon City have been accused for jointly looting more than Rs one billion in the name of selling and purchasing property from numerous families during the last 6-7 months.

Muhammad Qurban, a victim of the scam, was also kidnapped recently, as he raised voice against the abovementioned alleged accused, said members of the Paragon Society Affectees Action Committee, which comprised of approximately 70-80 people.

Nasreen, Qurban’s wife, told Daily Times that she has appealed the Punjab government and Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera to recover her husband from the custody of some ‘influentia’ people. She lamented that the police was not cooperating with her in registering the case even after passage of several days.

The victims of the alleged scam claimed that HREB CEO Haji Nadeem Ahmed has been a fugitive since June 23, after committing forgery and minting money from the innocent buyers.

The documents available with Daily Times include FIR copies registered against Nadeem Ahmed at Barki Police Station, applications written to Paragon City’s Real Estate Dealer Association, selling agreements, Paragon City cash receipt vouchers, acknowledgment slips issued by Paragon City, receipt agreement copies, cheques of United Bank Limited and Allied banks, and evidence of payment along with stamp papers containing signatures and thumb impression of Nadeem Ahmed. The agreements showed that numerous victims made direct deals of property with Nadeem Ahmed. They further confirmed that Nadeem Ahmed committed forgery, as all the cheques given by him got bounced.

The victims said that Nadeem was working along with his five co-partners, including Taseer Hussain, Mudasir Shehzad, Shahab Khan, Yasir Mukhtar and Nasir Munir, in the area for last couple of years. They said that all co-partners were still present in the area but were not cooperating with the victims, as they claim to have no contact with Nadeem Ahmed.

When Daily Times contacted with one of Nadeem Ahmed’s co-partners, he informed that he was an investor with Nadeem Ahmed in the Paragon City Housing Society, but now he was also in the queue of victims, having lost Rs 50 million in the fraud case. He said that the victims did not directly contact him and instead dealt with Nadeem Ahmed for acquiring properties.

Muhammad Asif, another victim, told this scribe, “I purchased two 5-marla plots, number 535 and 537, in Paragon City’s Orchard Block through HREB CEO Nadeem Ahmed. In this context, I made an advance payment of Rs 2.5 million and also signed an agreement with Nadeem Ahmed. Recently I came to know that the CEO has left the real estate business and was involved in fraudulent activities with many other investors as well. Since then, I have visited his office many times but to
no avail.”

According to the FIR 244/16, a complainer named Qaiser Muhammad claimed that he bought an 8-marla commercial plot in the Imperial Block against Rs 17.8 million with Nadeem Ahmed on April 21, 2016. Qaiser claimed that he gave an HBL cheque of Rs 1.5 million to Nadeem but he ran away before the fixed date decided between them. He further revealed that he purchased two more plots, number 982 and 983, against an amount of Rs 6.4 million but Nadeem refused to transfer the plot in his name, despite the payment of Rs 2 million to him. The police registered a case under the Section 420 against Nadeem.

Victims of the action committee said that they have decided to knock the door of media after getting a disappointing response from the police. They appeal Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq to take notice on the property scam, as Paragon City Housing Society was owned by
Saad Rafiq.

Paragon City Brand Manager Saad told Daily Times that HREB was not registered with the reliable Paragon City Housing Society. He said that the Paragon City administration was always present to entertain the people and resolve the grievances
of victims.

He clarified that the affectees did not directly deal with Paragon City and instead were in touch with Nadeem Ahmed for sale/purchase of their properties. He said that HREB did business in this area but “we don’t know about its internal matters”.

Experts and sources inside the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) said that the authority could not take legal action against Paragon City Housing Society owing to lack of legal powers, as it seemed a civil matter. Experts further said that this society came under the jurisdiction of respective Town Municipal Administration’s powers, which gave approval to Paragon City for establishing a housing society.

In 2013, LDA was seeking control of private housing schemes in the provincial capital through certain amendments to the Punjab Private Housing Schemes and Land Sub-division Rules of 2010. LDA had accused TMAs of sanctioning private housing schemes such as Paragon City, State Life Housing Scheme (phase-II), Green City and Anmol Housing Scheme, citing violation of the master plan.