Safa Gold Mall Islamabad,PHOTO:FILE
“NAB has frozen the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the Safa Gold Mall — an indoor shopping mall — by exercising its ‘powers to freeze property’ delegated under Section 12 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, after taking approval from the court in respect of holding and controlling a property through a receiver till the court’s decision,” a NAB source told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), under the ordinance can freeze, attach, seal, hold, control, or manage any property either through a receiver or otherwise — as per directed by the court or NAB chief.
Earlier on November 20, the apex anti-corruption body had arrested six people – including five former officials of the federal capital’s civic agency and the owner of the upscale shopping mall – on charges of misusing their authority and for corrupt practices.
Islamabad's Safa Mall building owner among six arrested
The development came in the backdrop of investigations into corruption allegations against officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and others by 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.
The NAB’s Executive Board had authorised formal investigations into the affairs of Safa Gold Mall in March 2017 after the matter had been referred to the accountability body by the Public Accounts Committee in 2016.
Last month, the CDA Board cancelled the lease of the multi-storey shopping centre for building code violations.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2017.
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