Plea accepted: PHC releases former PDA chief on bail

Laiq was arrested on charges of involvement in Hayatabad plot allotment case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered the release on bail of former Peshawar Development Authority DG arrested on charges of illegally allotting government land in Hayatabad.

The bail plea was accepted by a bench, comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Irshad Qaiser, against a surety and two personal bonds worth Rs5 million.

Qazi Laiq was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on February 27 and sent to Central Prison Peshawar on March 10.

Counsel of the accused told the court Laiq was charged with the allotment of five kanals of land adjacent to Iqra University on lease at a low price. He said out of the seven suspects nominated in the case, six have already obtained bail from the court.

The counsel said his client’s role in the offence was minimal because he was nominated jointly with Ijaz Afzal, former PDA director.

“I request the court to release my client because all other suspects have already been granted bail and the former DG’s guilt has not been proved through witness accounts,” he said, adding the suspect charged with obtaining possession of the plot in question is free on bail while his client who merely forwarded the summary to authorities is still in detention.

Assistant Deputy Prosecutor General Umer Farooq said all suspects released on bail were subordinates of Laiq, citing PDA GM Muhammad Tariq’s example who had paid Rs7 million to NAB and confessed he was pressed by Laiq to prepare fake documents.

The five kanals were leased for the establishment of a family park but later used for commercial purposes and currently a bank is also situated on the property. A summary of the conversion was also not sent to the government.

Upon hearing the arguments from both sides, the court ordered Laiq’s release on bail.

While pursuing the case, NAB K-P had initially arrested former PDA director Afzal and allottee Raz Mohammad Durrani on June 19, 2014. They were charged with violating legal formalities in process of leasing the aforementioned plot at a nominal price for 33 years, causing a loss of Rs75 million to the national exchequer.

During the course of investigation, it was also revealed the bidding process was non-transparent. Following the advertisement, three bidders reportedly submitted their bids. The overseeing committee rejected two bids and instead of advertising and announcing another auction, it granted land ownership to Durrani.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2015.