EOBI scandal: FIA granted 5-day remand of suspect

Abdul Qayyum sold a plaza to EOBI for almost twice its actual value.

ISLAMABAD:

A court has allowed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to keep businessman Abdul Qayyum – a suspect in the Employees’ Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) case – in custody for five days.

FIA investigators had sought to keep Qayyum in custody for 10 days. The court, however, only granted them a five-day physical remand.

Meanwhile, the agency has also reopened its inquiry into Qayyum’s alleged involvement in the illegal purchase of a commercial plot in Islamabad’s F-11 locality. FIA’s Director Crimes Islamabad Zone Capt (retd) Zafar Iqbal Awan confirmed the development.

According to a complaint, Qayyum purchased the property at a very low price with the connivance of Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials who allowed the transaction. Sources say a notable personality was involved in the deal.

The CDA officials in question have also been implicated by the FIA in the EOBI scandal. The agency arrested them in connection with the case on Tuesday, sources told the Express Investigation Cell (EIC).

According to them, Rawalpindi resident Syed Ghafoor, in a complaint registered before the FIA director general in March 2012, alleged that Qayyum purchased the plot in F-11 for Rs1.61 billion, against the property’s actual value of Rs3.25 billion.

Ghafoor alleged that several CDA officials and one political bigwig were involved in the purchase of the property. He said the CDA officials received Rs160 million from Qayyum in exchange for allowing the purchase, which cost the national exchequer Rs1.64 billion in revenue.

In the complaint, a copy of which is available with EIC, Ghafoor said the CDA officials also allowed Qayyum to pay the Rs1.61 billion for property in installments, which went against CDA rules. He added that a liability of Rs510 million was still outstanding in this regard.

Qayyum, meanwhile, built up a high-rise building on the plot, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2014.