Karachi’s 44 cooperative societies under NAB investigation

NAB DG directs CITs to expedite housing scam cases

KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Director-General (DG) Farooq Nasir Awan has directed the combined investigation teams (CITs) to expedite cases relating to housing scams.

A meeting of the NAB on Friday was informed that there are a total of 53 such cases involving cooperative housing schemes under investigation in which people have been deprived of their hard-earned money and their rightful titles of property in connivance with regulators and officials of Sindh cooperative department.

Most of the housing projects under investigation by NAB are based in Karachi, informed NAB Karachi's investigation director. A total of 44 societies in the 53 cases are located in Karachi, while the remaining are located in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Jamshoro.

Out of the 53 cases, 12 are under inquiry, 19 under advanced stage of the investigation while the remaining 22 references are under trial at accountability courts of Karachi and Hyderabad.

The investigation director said that weak regulation by government authorities and poor legal framework had exacerbated the problems and led to multiple complaints to pour in NAB against cooperative societies.

NAB DG directed the CITs to expedite the cases, recover the lands and restore them to their rightful owners as early as possible to allay the plight of the poor people seeking shelter.

The DG directed the Awareness and Prevention Wing to work with Sindh cooperative department and take measures to prevent further corruption in cooperative societies. He directed them to take strict actions against delinquent registrars, assistant registrars and administrators involved in irregularities. The DG appreciated Wing-I investigation director for executing plea bargain in Pak Punjab Cooperative Society for the return of plots and directed prosecutors to ensure that culprits were convicted.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2019.