No proof yet of Niazi’s guilt in NICL land scam

Niazi tells investigators NICL director Amin Qasim Dada is the main accused in the two dubious land purchase deals.

LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has so far not found any proof against former chairman of National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) Ayyaz Niazi that he received any commission from the Warraich family in the Rs2.75 billion land purchase scam.

Niazi told investigators that NICL director Amin Qasim Dada is the main accused in the two dubious land purchase deals involving Rs2.75 billion. He asserted that Dada influenced the company board of directors, “including me” and convinced it (the board) that NICL must purchase the land at any cost.

NICL directors Hur Riahi Gardazi, Syed Naveed Hussain Zaidi, and Athar Hussain Naqvi in their statements affirmed this, saying that absconding Amin Qasim Dada is the main accused in the scam while Ayyaz Niazi and other members of the NICL board have not received a single penny as commission or bribe.

They added that Dada was not only a member of the company’s board of directors he was also head of its investment committee.

They stated that Dada played an active role in concluding the land purchase agreement because of his close links with the Warraich family and that might have received huge sums in commission.

The FIA investigation team has tried to detect the trail of a sum of Rs980 million withdrawn by Mohsin Habib Warraich, the son of former minister for defence production Major (retd ) Habibullah Warraich through cheques.

Perceptions about Mr Niazi’s academic credentials (that he is only a Matriculate) have been set right. Actually Ayyaz Niazi received his BBA degree from a US educational institution, Southern Methodist University, in finance and economics. Earlier he received education from Lahore American School where he was also a head boy, FIA sources said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2010.