PPP-era illegal land transfer case referred to NAB

Property worth at least Rs400 million, was handed over by Gilani without fulfilling legal formalities

ISLAMABAD:

The parliamentary anti-corruption watchdog has referred to the National Accountability Bureau a case involving illegal handover of a piece of land left behind by non-Muslims who had migrated to India in 1947 by the previous government to the legal fraternity.

In November 2011, then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had directed the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) to transfer an ‘under construction’ parking plaza located along Lahore’s Dev Samaj Road to the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) for construction of a lawyers’ hospital, ETPB Chairman Siddique-ul-Farooq told the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday.



The property, measuring four kanals and worth at least Rs400 million, was handed over by Gilani without fulfilling legal formalities, he said. “Since the land is in LBA’s possession, it is impossible for us [ETPB] to retake it due to pressure from the legal fraternity.”

According to the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), the PPP government had stopped work on the parking plaza after spending a whopping Rs66.1 million. The government had never recovered the Rs20.2 million mobilisation advance paid to the contractor after the project was shelved, the auditors said.

According to Farooq, those involved in corruption while constructing the plaza played a role in handing the land to the LBA to hide their crime. He said the ETPB has blacklisted the contractor but could not recover the money.

I am a Sindhi and I have no sympathy for PPP anymore

On recommendation of the AGP and the ETPB, acting PAC chairperson Dr Azra Pechuho referred the case to NAB with directions to recover Rs20.2 million from the contractor and to take action against responsible ETPB officials.

PAC Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah refused to chair the meeting on grounds that he was the federal minister for religious affairs when the handover took place.

The PAC also referred another case to NAB for inadmissible payment of Rs2 million to the same contractor by ETPB officials. The auditors also pointed out that the PPP government had unlawfully spent Rs69.2 million from the Zakat Fund on an advertising campaign and sought directives from the PAC to fix responsibility against officials involved in the matter.



During the financial year 2009-10, the government had used money from the Zakat Fund for an advertisement campaign to convince the people to pay more Zakat.  AGP Rana Assad Amin said that instead of recording any increase in Zakat donations, the amount actually went down.

The religious affairs secretary said the Central Zakat Council had the authority to sanction funds for advertisement campaign. However, the auditors were of the view that the Central Zakat Council cannot use the Zakat Fund for advertisement.

Instead of ordering an inquiry, the PAC asked the Ministry of Religious Affairs to seek an interpretation of the law from the law ministry as to whether the council had such rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2015.