SC orders DHA to deposit Rs22 bn within 48 hours

[Salman]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) to deposit Rs22 billion within 48 hours with its Registrar’s office or face freezing of all its accounts.



A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while hearing a suo moto case pertaining to the corruption scandal of the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institute (EOBI), also directed the other six individuals to deposit the amount of Rs7,087 million, which had been received from the EOBI for the purchase of property.



The court gave these orders after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed before the court its preliminary report about the non-transparent deal between the DHA and EOBI regarding the purchase of land. The court also made it clear that criminal liability against the responsible persons would be fixed in this scam later on.



The reporter of a private TV channel, who broke the corruption story, told the court that he was being sacked from his job after the airing of the corruption story because large numbers of influential persons were involved in this scam. He also complained that his TV channel did not release his salary for the last two months. At this, the court directed the owner of the TV channel not to sack him and make payment of his two-month salary.



Earlier, during the hearing, FIA Director Legal Azam Khan submitted a preliminary report regarding the EOBI scam and apprised the bench that the matter relating to the land purchased by the EOBI was examined by the FIA as well as the district revenue officer, Islamabad.



He informed the court that around Rs22 billion deal between the EOBI and DHA regarding the purchase of land was not done in a transparent manner as no PEPRA rules were followed in this regard.



The FIA director legal further submitted that the Agency’s team had also visited the site and they witnessed that no development had taken place. He also raised a question about the legality of allotment letters, which had been issued by the DHA.



Ahmer Bilal Soofi, the counsel for the DHA, however, told the court that after Rs22 billion transaction with the EOBI, they (DHA) had given Rs11 billion to Bahria Town for the development of 321 kanal land.



The counsel sought some time for depositing the amount in the SC Registrar’s Office. Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing till today (Thursday).

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