Daily Times

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi has filed 14 corruption references in Fake Bank Accounts Scam and recovered Rs 23.852 billion during the tenure of incumbent chairman, said Director General, NAB, Rawalpindi Irfan Naeem Mangi.

Briefing the meeting with Chairman NAB Justice ( Retd) Javed Iqbal in the chair held to review the overall performance of Rawalpindi bureau, he said the corruption references were under adjudication in the accountability court Islamabad. Irfan Naeem Mangi informed the meeting that NAB Rawalpindi has also filed a reference against Ahsan Iqbal, former Federal Minister and others before the Accountability Court, Islamabad in connection with the Narowal Sports City project in which accused Ahsan Iqbal misused his authority to illegally enhance the scope of the project from Rs 34.75 million to Rs 2,994 million approx. The Narowal Sports City (NSC) project formerly known as Sports Stadium Narowal was initially conceived in 1999 on the directions of accused Ahsan Iqbal without any feasibility study and codal formalities.

The project was initially approved at the cost of Rs 34.74 million by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) headed by accused Ahsan Iqbal which not only conflict of interest but the funds of people of Pakistan were diverted towards his political mileage by misusing his authority. In the same year 1999, accused Ahsan Iqbal not intervened in the official domain of Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) but also illegally directed Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and NESPAK to enhance the scope of the project. Accordingly, the scope was enhanced as per the said directions and resulted in enhancement in the cost of the project to the tune of Rs 97.52 million. Accused Ahsan Iqbal not only enhanced the scope of the project but also personally identified land for NSC project and provided specific Khasra Numbers to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to acquire the land identified by him. The project was shelved in the year 1999 by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on the directions of the Ministry of Planning and Development on the grounds that the Narowal Sports City project (NSC) did not have the requisite weight-age with respect to economic necessity. The project was again started in 2009 and approved at the cost of Rs.732 million approx.

However, the project was devolved to Govt. of the Punjab in 2011 after the 18th constitutional amendment. He informed that when accused Ashan Iqbal took over the charge of Minister PD&R in 2013, He illegally directed officials of his ministry to include NSC project in PSDP 2013-14 which was not included in draft PSDP 2013-14 as it was a devolved project and was also reflected in Annual Development Program (ADP) 2013-14 of Govt. of Punjab. Ahsan Iqbal by misusing his authority hijacked the provincial project in violation of 18th Constitutional Amendment and CCI decision dated 28.04.2011 with ulterior motives and made huge wasteful expenditure from federal government exchequer. Moreover, accused Ahsan Iqbal by misusing his authority illegally and unlawfully, without any justification increased the cost of the project from 730 million to Rs 3 Billion (Approx), by misusing his authority for personal political mileage. Accused Ahsan Iqbal from 2012-13 to 2016-17 diverted about 90 % of sports funds of M/o IPC to his constituency by misusing his position to cement his political position by depriving the whole country through blatant conflict of interest.

DG NAB Rawalpindi informed the meeting that NAB Rawalpindi has also filed 31 references of Modaraba cases and recovered Rs. 1 billion besides cautioned/frozen assets worth Rs1,646.5 million. The number of affectees are 31,524 whereas the NAB has arrested 45 accused persons in Modarba scam including Mufti Ehsan-ul-Haq, Mufti Ibrar-ul-Haq, Hafiz Muhammad Nawaz, Moeen Aslam, Obaidullah, Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Sajjad Ahmed, Asif Javed, Ghulam Rasool Ayubi, Muhammad Hussain Ahmed, Hamid Nawaz, Muhammad Irfan, Bilal Khan Bangash, Matiur Rehman, Muhammad Numan Qureshi, Syed Aksheed Hussain, Muhammad Adil Butt, Muhammad Saqib, Umair Ahmed, Aqeel Abbasi, Mufti Hanif Khan, Nazeer Ahmed Ibrahim Alshoriam and Saifullah etc. During the meeting, it was informed that in the Modaraba case, NAB Rawalpindi had filed a reference against Mufti Ehsan-ul-Haq, CEO of M/s Fayazi Group of Industries Modaraba case along with nine other accused persons.

The Accountability Court Islamabad awarded 10 years imprisonment and Rs. 9 billion fine to Mufti Ehsan-ul-Haq while his nine other co-accused were imposed Rs1 billion fine. That conviction was the maximum in the NAB’s history. While the accused Mufti Ehsan-ul-Haq, CEO of M/s Fayazi Group of Industries Modaraba case along with nine other accused persons were convicted after detailed perusal of solid evidence presented by NAB Rawalpindi in the accountability court. NAB Rawalpindi had filed a reference in accountability court Islamabad against Ghulam Rasool Ayubi and other persons in the Modaraba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating the public at large under the ploy of Islamic mode of investment.

The Accountability Court awarded a 10 years jail sentence to Ghulam Rasool Ayubi along with a fine of Rs3.7 billion in corruption referenced in the Modaraba case which was filed by NAB Rawalpindi. The NAB Rawalpindi has filed corruption references in accountability court Rawalpindi against Muhammad Nazeer CEO Islamic investment and other accused persons in the Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large under the ploy of Islamic mode of investment worth Rs95.52 million. The NAB Rawalpindi has filed reference against Muhammad Bilal of Bilal Trading Corporation and other accused persons in Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large under the ploy of Islamic mode of investment worth Rs48.410 million.

The NAB Rawalpindi had filed another reference against Shamsur Rehman CEO M/s Al Baraka Marketing (Pvt) Ltd and other accused persons in Modaraba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large under the ploy of Islamic mode of investment worth Rs25.02 million. The NAB Rawalpindi had filed reference against Muhammad Yasir s/o Muhammad Gulistan, CEO Al Jazeera International and other accused persons in Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large under the ploy of Islamic mode of investment worth Rs5.95 million.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Javed Iqbal appreciated the excellent performance of Rawalpindi bureau and hoped that the bureau will continue to work with more dedication, devotion and commitment in future in order to conduct all complaint verifications, inquiries as investigations on the basis of solid evidence.

Hussain Asghar, Deputy Chairman NAB, Syed Asghar Haider, Prosecutor General Accountability (PGA), Zahir Shah, DG Operations NAB and other senior officers of NAB were also present in the meeting.