Court orders seizing assets of Eden scam suspects

An accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday ordered that the properties of the suspects in the multi-billion rupees Eden Housing Society scam be seized.

Judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmed then adjourned the hearing of the case for a month.

Eden Housing group owner Dr Amjad and his sons Murtaza Amjad and Mustafa Amjad are the prime suspects in the case.

Murtaza Amjad is also the son-in-law of former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

According to the National Accountability Bureau, the suspects collected Rs18.9 billion from public through fraud and fled the country.

In September 2018, Murtaza Amjad was arrested in Dubai but was later set free over lack of evidence.

Murtaza was taken into custody after the people affected y the housing scam held a demonstration outside Zaman Park, residence of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore, requesting him to help them recover their looted money by the influential group that launched the scheme with false promises of providing shelter and plots.

According to details, the number of affected people is around 10,000.

Fawad Chaudhry, who was then the federal information minister, had claimed that the former CJ’s son Arsalan Iftikhar was also involved in the scam.

The accountability watchdog had acquired the details of the properties of the owners of housing society. The probe revealed that the owners had at least 111 commercial plots in the Eden Housing projects in Lahore alone.

The accused had eight commercial plots near Eden Canal Villas and Canal Road. They also had two commercial plots of four kanals near the airport. NAB’s initial inquiry revealed that the accused had two commercial plots of 10 marlas in Eden City near the new airport.

NAB had also requested the interior ministry to place names of the accused on the no-fly list but a delay provided the accused with a chance to flee country.

After their alleged escape, NAB approached the ministry again for the issuance of red notices to bring the accused back, but the ministry raised objections, citing an “incomplete application submitted by the anti-corruption watchdog.