Daily Times

Despite their limited manpower and a handful of officers across Pakistan, the Benami Prohibition Zones, under the leadership of DG Dr. Basheerulah has been able to file 72 references to the Adjudicating Authority for final disposal of cases, a report available with this scribe reveals.

References have been filed against benamidars who possess more than 60,000 Kanals of benami land; millions of shares in renowned industries in Pakistan; and various houses, commercial plots and luxury vehicles.

Noteworthy references are the ones of Omni Group (Karachi); Ch. Tanvir Hussain (Senator) where more than 7,124 Kanal of land was attached and reference was filed to the adjudicating authority in the first week of November 2019. Another major reference was that of Techno Engineering Pvt Ltd which was a multi-city benami properties scam where 50,503 Kanal of land was investigated and later attached. The collective value of 72 reference, if timely adjudicated in the favor of the government, is more than seventy seven (77) Billion rupees.

The Anti Benami Initiative, led by DG Dr. Basheerulah is also finalizing process of investigating various other cases and have provisionally attached around 146 assets across Pakistan where the cumulative value of these assets goes beyond 31.2 Billion Rupees. Other than these, initial preparations are being made to undertake the tremendous amount of benami transactions unearthed by the Sugar Enquiry Report where it has been estimated that the value of benami transactions will be somewhere around 100 Billion. Furthermore, the district land revenue authorities, of only 13 districts of Punjab, i.e Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Chinyot, Khushab, Multan, Nankana Sahb, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh, Pakpattan, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Faisalabad and Lahore, have identified more than 28,600 Kanals of benami land which has now been put under the radar of Benami (Prohibiton) Zone 2 Lahore and a prudent estimate value of this land is around another 72.7 Billlion Rupees.

Sources in the department said that the amount of work required to process the records available and make strong cases against these mafias, the Initiative is woefully understaffed and the whole initiate could go down the drain if it’s not adequately staffed and equipped. The available staff is mandated with investigating political well connected individuals including top sugar industrialists which is a huge undertaking.