NAB CASTS NET AGAINST FAKE HOUSING SCHEMES

[Salman]

Thursday, March 26, 2015 - Islamabad—The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has cast its wide net against around 100 housing schemes operating in the twin cities without obtaining No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from relevant civic agencies.

Sources in the NAB confided that NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has taken notice of reports that several housing schemes have popped up in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and most of them have gotten no NOCs from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) — the two competent agencies to issue clearance for new housing schemes and societies.

The source said that so far over Rs4 billion have been returned to the affected people after their investment was retrieved from fake real estate developers.

The NAB chairman has also asked the CDA and RDA to identify fake housing schemes on their websites to alert citizens against making investment in fake housing units. The NAB chairman has also asked newspapers to ensure authenticity of housing schemes before publishing their advertisements so that the citizens could not be tricked and lured by fake proponents of housing schemes.

The sources said that gullible people have been deprived of more than Rs20 trillion by fake real estate developers during the last 20 years.

Currently, around 82 illegal housing societies are operating in zone-II, IV and V of the federal capital with impunity, and the NAB has recently put them under its radar for investigation.

The NAB sources confirmed that Rs4.6 billion have so far been retrieved from developers of Askari Town, Services Cooperative Housing Society, Majid Nizami Town, Iqra City, Prince Welfare Society and Capital Builders.—Online