EOBI scam: SC orders freezing of DHA Rawalpindi and Islamabad accounts

Accounts to remain frozen till Rs22.24 billion are paid back.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered that the accounts held by Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Rawalpindi and Islamabad be frozen, reported Express News on Friday.  The order was given during the hearing of the Employees Old Age Benefit Institute (EOBI) scam case

The court further added that the accounts will remain frozen till the owed amount, Rs22.24 billion is not paid back.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday had ordered DHA to submit Rs22.24 billion that EOBI had paid to it in a shadowy deal to purchase 321 kanals of land.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directed DHA’s advocate Ahmer Bilal Sufi to deposit the money with the court’s registrar office by July 19 or furnish the details of the DHA’s assets. “The assets can be attached if the money was not deposited,” he added.

Advocate Sufi tried to convince the bench that the land was worth purchasing, the deal would benefit the EOBI and its investment was secure.  He said that the developmental work on the land had been 70% to 80% done and was due to complete within 3 months. He further added that Rs 9 billion and Rs 11 billion had also been respectively provided to the DHA and Habib Rafique Group and Bahria Town for the developmental work.

“The DHA does not have such a huge equity right now to deposit with the SC’s registrar and some time may be given to the authority for explaining its position,” Sufi argued on Thursday.