NICL scam: Manager of Moonis Elahi’s firm jailed

Mohsin Warraich seeks extension till January 11 for the encashment of last cheque.

LAHORE: The accused Abdul Malik, manager of Chaudhry Moonis Elahi’s firm At-Tahur (Pvt) Limited, has been sent to jail in connection with the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL)’s dubious land purchase deal on Monday while a cheque worth Rs80.4 million presented by the accused Mohsin Habib Warraich to the NICL has been withheld for now.

Meanwhile, post-arrest bail application pleas of state minister for defence production Major (retd) Habibullah Warraich and director Privilege Farms Pvt Ltd Akram Warraich have been adjourned till January 7 by the court of special judge (central), The Express Tribune has learnt

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented the accused Malik in the court of judicial magistrate and requested further physical remand, which was turned down. The court sent the accused to camp jail on judicial remand instead.

Sources said Warraich contacted the NICL from UK through fax, requesting the authorities to give him an extension till January 10, 2011 for the encashment of the cheque.

The post-dated cheque worth Rs80.4 million on Warraich’s account had been handed over to the NICL through FIA Punjab Director Zafar Ahmad Qureshi by Muhammad Naseer Khan, former federal minister for health and Warraich’s father-in-law.

Khan had presented the cheque on the condition that FIA would not interrogate or summon Warraich’s mother and sisters in connection with the NICL scam. The women had been summoned by the agency for jointing interrogation because huge amounts were transferred to their accounts in connection with the scam.

The family is a beneficiary in the land purchase scam in which Mohsin Warraich and Privilege Farms Pvt Ltd received Rs2.75 billion from the NICL on account of two land sale agreements.

Meanwhile three other accused member board of directors of NICL arrested by the FIA including Syed Zahid Hussain, Syed Zahoor Hussain and Syed Athar Naqvi, submitted post-arrest bail applications to Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar. The court adjourned the hearing of applications till January 7, 2011.

The FIA Punjab chapter has recovered the entire amount of Rs1.68 billion in connection with the case involving 803 kanal and 19 marla of land, FIA Punjab Director Zafar Ahmad Qureshi told The Express Tribune. Meanwhile only Rs80.4 million are yet to be recovered in the second case related involving 20 kanal and 2 marla of land, he added. With the amount expected to be recovered on January 10, 2011, the FIA and NICL authorities will appear before a three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and submit their reports regarding the NICL scam on January 11.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2011.