Double trouble: Man arrested for taking land payment twice from PHA

Separately, NAB detains bank officials for involvement in WWB scam.

PESHAWAR: NAB Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday arrested Abdul Hashim for alleged fraud in receiving payments for his land which would be used by the government in the Surezai Bala housing scheme in Peshawar.

An investigation into the embezzlement of government funds in the acquisition of land for Surezai Bala Housing Scheme by Provincial Housing Authority is currently in progress. It is suspected embezzlement worth millions has taken place in this scheme; landowners in Surezai were reportedly paid less than the price fixed. A few owners were also paid twice.

During the course of investigation, it was revealed Abdul Hashim illegally received double payments from PHA as compensation for his family land measuring 32 kanals and 7 marla. The suspect allegedly received an amount of Rs3,785,393 even though his father and other family members had already been compensated. The accused was presented before an accountability court in Peshawar and remanded in physical custody for seven days.

Banking scam

The bureau arrested NIB Bank Shoba Chowk Branch Manager Rizwan Ali and Operations Manager Abid Mahmood Abbassi.

They were allegedly accomplices of Workers Welfare Board (WWB) Secretary Tariq Awan and Project Offiacer Abdul Waheed Qureshi who were accused of corrupt practices when procuring equipment and causing losses worth billions to the government.

Ali, reportedly in cahoots with Awan and other suspects, allegedly opened illegal accounts in NIB Bank titled ‘secretary labour.’ However, the official, under whose name the account was created, gave no such approval.

The account was used to deposit cheques worth large sums issued in the name of the labour secretary by WWB. The money would then be transferred to the account of WWB secretary, allegedly to make payments for illegal contracts. The then labour secretary was completely in the dark over the account.

A sum of more than Rs2.29 billion was illegally credited and then withdrawn by the suspects from this account. Furthermore, they were also allegedly involved in the opening of a fraudulent account for accused firm M/S Ashraf Enterprises. Abbassi, in his capacity as operations manager, illegally deposited cheques issued in the name of secretary labour into the account of Tariq Awan. The official cheques were properly crossed and could not be deposited into another account.

WWB Secretary Tariq Awan and many of the suspects involved in the scam had already been arrested by NAB K-P. The bureau is actively pursuing the case. The suspects will be produced before an accountability court in the city to obtain their physical remand.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2015.