NAB probes handover of 125 kanals of protected land to politician-owned firm

Zardari, Bilawal, other associates’ names pop up; related land deal was subject to Ehtasab Bureau inquiry in 1997.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has started investigations into the handover of possession of nearly 125 kanals of Punjab Forest Department land in the protected Zone-III of the federal capital to a private Karachi-based firm.

The transaction took place in 2010, when Faisal Sakhi Butt, a local PPP leader, was chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force for Islamabad. The task force also monitored the affairs of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).



According to NAB investigators, the company, Park Lane Estates, was previously owned by former President Asif Ali Zardari, incumbent PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and a few others.

Park Lane Estates had purchased 2,500 kanals near Sangjani, which included the area in question, in March 2009 from Faisal Sakhi Butt. Butt had bought the 2,500 kanals from a Pakistani-American named Muhammad Nasir Khan, for just Rs62 million, the same price on which Khan had purchased the land some 15 years earlier.

Sources in NAB confirmed that representatives of the CDA appeared before the investigators on Wednesday and presented records of the deal.

“After handing over the land to the company, the CDA management removed some important documents from the file, which have yet to be recovered,” said an investigator. This was confirmed by sources at the CDA.

Rewriting the rules

Until 2010, all construction activities were barred in Zone-III, which falls inside the Margalla Hills National Park. But soon after the land deal went through, the CDA management, claiming it was regularising haphazard development in Zone-III, amended ICT zoning regulations.

The amendments aimed to allow controlled construction activities at Zone-III, which in turn would cause a significant increase in the value of the land. In 2010, city managers presented a summary to the prime minister to amend the zone’s status, after which housing and commercial activities were allowed in the area.

Following the presentation, PM Gilani formed a supervisory committee comprising former housing minister Rehmatullah Kakar, former law minister Babar Awan and former interior minister Rehman Malik to finalise the new rules for Zone-III, the forest area between the hills and Murree Road, and other protected ranges.

The CDA Board later approved the recommendations of this three-member ministerial committee and sent a summary to the Federal Cabinet for final approval. According to the new rules, landowners holding at least 1,500 kanals in the area were allowed to initiate construction of housing schemes.

Missing breadcrumbs

An Ehtesab Bureau reference filed in 1997 said that Nasir Khan originally bought the land in 1994 and went on to refer to him as a front man for Asif Zardari. The former president was acquitted in this reference in 1997 on the basis of insufficient evidence against him.

A senior CDA officer, asking not to be named, said all available records would be presented before NAB, while efforts would be made to recover the missing documents.

According to the official, in 2011, the CDA carried out a controversial land marking in the area and handed over an additional 125 kanals to the company, land which the Punjab Forest Department has laid claim to.

A NAB official confirmed that CDA representatives had appeared before NAB investigators, but refused to share any specific details as “the case remains under investigation”.

Meanwhile, Faisal Sakhi Butt told The Express Tribune that the land was purchased by Khan “in 1994 or 95” from private parties after making all due payments. “It was the time when ICT Zoning Regulations for the specific area were not clearly defined,” Butt added.

Later, he said, he purchased the land and help it for a short period of time.

“In 2009, I received a good offer from Park Lanes Estates and sold it to them,” he said, adding that he was not familiar with any of the later developments regarding the land.

He said the CDA had nothing to do with ownership of the land as it had never been acquired by the CDA and private individuals had held it. He said if the Punjab Forest Department had some ownership disputes in the area, then it is a legal matter which he cannot comment on.

Senator Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman for former President Zardari, said he could not comment on the issue as he was unfamiliar with it. He said the party point of view would be made available after discussing the issue with the legal team dealing with the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2014.