Land scam: More charges against NICL officials

Charges include payment of bogus claims worth Rs640 million to individuals instead of departments concerned.

LAHORE:

More charges were levelled against former chairman of the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) Ayaz Khan Niazi and others, including the payment of bogus claims worth Rs640 million to individuals instead of departments concerned, recruitment of more than 300 staffers and out-of-turn promotions.

The Express Tribune has also learnt that officers and directors of NICL’s board who were suspended after action by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would continue to get full salary and other benefits.

Sources said that the former NICL chairman illegally paid claims amounting to Rs640 million to eight Wapda contractors instead of the parent department.

The NICL stopped reimbursement of some of these claims in 2006 and closed the files but then the NICL chairman reopened these cases and paid claims after constituting a committee, including Ali Asghar, who was deputed as the secretary/member of the committee.

The FIA now says it has gathered evidence concerning another fraud and that it is planning to lodge a case against the accused in Karachi.

Sources in the FIA said that Niazi illegally paid these claims in connivance with some of his colleagues.

Niazi allegedly gave three promotions and 12 increments in just eight months to Ayub Sadique Butt, who is now in jail because of his involvement in dubious land transactions. He was appointed as the chief manager in April 2009. He again got promoted as the firm’s general manager in June 2009 with a salary well over Rs108,000.

Just four months later, he got promoted again with four-and-a-half increments and a salary of Rs170,000, departmental sources said.

Niazi recruited more than 300 employees in NICL and a vast majority of these appointments were not advertised. Sources said that all of them were inducted without conducting any test, verification or interviews.

A majority of these employees were based in Multan and Khanewal, which is Niazi’s own native town. Forty of these employees belonged to the constituency (PS-206 Jalalpur Peerwala) of the prime minister’s brother, Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani, ostensibly for gaining political support.

FIA investigators also decided to initiate action against the acting NICL chairman, Tariq Iqbal Puri.

Zafar Ahmad Qureshi, the Additional Director-General of FIA, has decided to take action against the acting chairman and others for favouring the accused and adopting delaying tactics regarding provision of Nespak’s valuation report.

NICL General Manager Human Resource Ali Asghar told The Express Tribune that he was also a member of the NICL’s claims committee but denied the allegations of irregularities. He added that payments were made after completing all legal formalities.

He, however, confirmed that all NICL officers, who were suspended after FIA action, will continue to get full salary.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2011.