Islamabad's Safa Mall building owner among six arrested

NAB also arrests five former CDA officials for misusing their authority

ISLAMABAD: The apex anti-corruption body on Monday arrested six people – including five former officials of the federal capital’s civic agency and the owner of an upscale shopping mall – on charges of misusing their authority and for corrupt practices.



The development came in the backdrop of recently concluded investigations into allegations of corruption against officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and others by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The suspects include former CDA Building Control Section (BCS) deputy director-general Malik Ghulam Murtaza, BCS Director Khalil Ahmed, BCS deputy director Ammar Idrees, BCS assistant director Khadim Hussain and Safa Gold Mall owner Rana Abdul Qayyum.

A NAB official said the accused would be produced before an accountability court today (Tuesday) to seek their physical remand.

The NAB’s Executive Board had authorized formal investigations into the affairs of Safa Gold Mall in March 2017. The matter had been referred to the accountability body by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in 2016.

Last week, the CDA Board had cancelled the lease of the multi-storey shopping centre for building code violations.

The Board had further decided to take over control of the mall building while recommending disciplinary action against officers of the civic body who had approved building plans for the mall in violation of the allowed Floor Area Ratio (FAR).

A plot measuring 170 feet by 200 feet in Sector F-7 Markaz had been allotted to Al Safaa Golden Co CEO Abdul Qayyum in May 2010. In June that year, the allottee submitted plans for a building with three basements, a ground floor and seven additional floors against the allowed the allowed building parameters in the city of two basements, ground and four floors.



The plan also included CDA land (underground) located on the southern side of plot and adjacent to it to be used as a car park. However, CDA told the company to either amend their plans in line with the defined allotment parameters or obtain formal permission for the enhanced relaxation of by-laws.

A case for relaxation in the building’s parameters, after being processed in different offices of the authority, was approved by the BCS in April 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2017.