Modaraba scandal: NAB submits details of seized assets

Tells court that complainants cannot be compensated from seized property.

RAWALPINDI: The National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday submitted the complete details of assets seized in relation to a modaraba fraud case.

Special court judge Suhail Nasir has summoned the Bahawalnagar district collector on December 9 to assess the value of the seized property.

In the last hearing, the court had recorded the statements of five witnesses in the Rs7 billion scam. The court has also issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the accused still at large.

The case was adjourned till December 8 after defense lawyer Malik Jawad completed cross examination of the witnesses. Those who recorded their statements included Tanveer Ahmad, Suhail Akhtar, Zafar Iqbal and Syed Muhammad Mujtaba.

NAB also requested the court to issue orders for further processing of the seized assets. NAB produced details of the property of Muhammad Nasir, his wife Anisa Nasir and sons Muhammad Abdullah and Hamail Nasir.

It also provided details of other suspects including Muhammad Umer, his wife Ruqia Umer, daughter Amina Umer and son Ali Umer.

Two complainants also submitted requests for the court to order NAB to refund them. The court accepted their requests and ordered NAB to repay the amount the two complainants after they produce documents to verify their claims.

Around 18 complainants whose claims were below Rs500,000 told the court that they could be paid from the money NAB is generating from the seized property of the accused.

Only one suspect, Asif Javed alias Ibrahim, has been arrested, while Muhammad Umer, Muhammad Nasir, Muhammad Usama Zia, Abdur Rafe, Nasir Ali, Ghulam Qadir, Shabir Ahmad, Abdul Khaliq, Abdur Rahman and Muhammad Shahid Aziz are still at large.

In the last hearing, NAB informed the bench that although the seized property was acquired by the suspects using embezzled money, there was no provision in the law that allowed for the liquidation of a suspect’s assets, nor can they distribute the generated money among the affected persons.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2014.