Key suspect in Abu Dhabi Towers scam held

ISLAMABAD: A key suspect in Abu Dhabi Towers scam was arrested in Islamabad on Friday. A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team arrested Ghulam Qasim from outside his office in Blue Area. Qasim was the accountant and manager of the Rs160 million scam.

“We had received information that Qasim had gone to his office today [on Friday],” said Kamran Illyas, Assistant Director (Investigations) NAB, who headed the raid team.

Qasim is being kept at the NAB office in Rawalpindi for interrogation.

The main suspect, Malik Sadiq, still remains at large as NAB officials have been unable to obtain a search warrant for his house in Sector E-7.

Abu Dhabi Towers, a multi-storey residential apartments’ complex in sector F-11, was built in 2005. Malik Sadiq, the owner, had allegedly sold each apartment to more than a single person. His agents had taken millions of rupees from several people on his behalf.

The people filed several First Investigation Reports (FIRs) against Sadiq and his name was put on the Exit Control List. However he still managed to escape the country.

Later, he convinced the people to withdraw their cases by promising to return their money. He then went back on his word and refused to pay up once the cases were withdrawn.

A total of 23 people still wait for Sadiq to return their money.

Earlier on Tuesday, NAB officials who went to arrest Malik Sadiq from his residence in E-7 were resisted by his bodyguards. “His bodyguards held us at gunpoint and also fired some aerial shots. Malik Sadiq himself pulled out a gun and pointed it at us,” said a NAB official who was in the Tuesday’s raiding party. “The police officials accompanying us stood there silently. They did not intervene,” he said. While the two parties were arguing, students of a nearby religious seminary came to the aid of Malik Sajid and roughed up the NAB officials. Sadiq then went inside his house and the NAB officials were unable to arrest him without warrant.

Later the NAB officials had a hard time registering a case against Sadiq.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2010.