Alleged embezzlement: High court dismisses CDA legal adviser’s bail plea
Accountability court says investigations into the adviser’s role are still continuing
IHC judge pays surprise visit to GBM of lawyers; urges patience. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court dismissed on Monday the bail application of a Capital Development Authority (CDA) legal adviser in a case pertaining to a housing society scam.
A division bench, comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, dismissed bail of CDA’s Raja Adnan Aslam after the parties concluded their arguments over his plea. Aslam is an accused in the MOCECHS embezzlement case.
The Ministry of Commerce Employees Cooperative Housing Society (MOCECHS) was launched in 1987, but remains incomplete even 30 years after it commenced, leaving over 7,000 plot owners in wait.
The delay has been blamed on alleged corruption by MOCECHS president Rana Ghulam Fareed, and CDA Additional Legal Adviser Aslam, who was also the MOCECHS secretary.
While dismissing the bail plea, the bench asked National Accountability Court’s (NAB) Investigation Wing Director Masood Alam what action was being taken against Fareed.
To this, Alam informed the court that investigations were in process for determining his role in the case.
Aslam would regularly appear before the IHC in his capacity as the CDA’s lawyer.
The embezzlement issue sprang up after four members of the society – Muhammad Ali Azam, Abdul Waheed, Asif Nadeem and Abdul Hameed – filed a complaint with the NAB director general stating that Fareed prepared “bogus allotments” for over 900 plots in the society, “causing losses of over a billion rupees.”
The members have accused Fareed, Aslam and several others of embezzlement and depriving thousands of people of their legitimate rights to property for which they had paid decades ago.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2016.
The Islamabad High Court dismissed on Monday the bail application of a Capital Development Authority (CDA) legal adviser in a case pertaining to a housing society scam.
A division bench, comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, dismissed bail of CDA’s Raja Adnan Aslam after the parties concluded their arguments over his plea. Aslam is an accused in the MOCECHS embezzlement case.
The Ministry of Commerce Employees Cooperative Housing Society (MOCECHS) was launched in 1987, but remains incomplete even 30 years after it commenced, leaving over 7,000 plot owners in wait.
The delay has been blamed on alleged corruption by MOCECHS president Rana Ghulam Fareed, and CDA Additional Legal Adviser Aslam, who was also the MOCECHS secretary.
While dismissing the bail plea, the bench asked National Accountability Court’s (NAB) Investigation Wing Director Masood Alam what action was being taken against Fareed.
To this, Alam informed the court that investigations were in process for determining his role in the case.
Aslam would regularly appear before the IHC in his capacity as the CDA’s lawyer.
The embezzlement issue sprang up after four members of the society – Muhammad Ali Azam, Abdul Waheed, Asif Nadeem and Abdul Hameed – filed a complaint with the NAB director general stating that Fareed prepared “bogus allotments” for over 900 plots in the society, “causing losses of over a billion rupees.”
The members have accused Fareed, Aslam and several others of embezzlement and depriving thousands of people of their legitimate rights to property for which they had paid decades ago.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2016.