Victims of fake housing scheme get Rs38m

[Salman]

Victims of fake housing scheme get Rs38m

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) distributed on Tuesday cheques for Rs38.6 million among affected people of an abortive housing scheme launched in Islamabad with the name of ‘New Islamabad Gardens’ in 2005.

The housing scheme was launched by Capital Builders, a private firm, but it could no purchase land required for it.

NAB’s Deputy Chairman retired Rear Admiral Saeed Ahmed Sargana handed over the cheques to the affected people.

Taking cognizance of public complaints, NAB arrested the accused and succeeded in recovering the looted amount of Rs138.6 million which were distributed among the affected people.

The accused, Chaudhry Tassaduq Pervez, the Chief Executive of Capital Builders, along with others launched the housing schemes in Sector C-17, Islamabad.

The firm booked more than 3,000 plots in 2005 without obtaining an NOC from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) whereas the company owned only 305 kanals of land at the time of booking of plots.

Afterwards, the company purchased the land measuring more than 1800 kanals in different areas of Rawalpindi/Islamabad through money collected from the general public.

The accused collected the huge amount of money from the people with a promise to give them developed plots but neither did he give the plots nor refunded the amount to the public. Rather, the amount was misappropriated/embezzled by the accused. In order to avoid legal proceedings and arrest by NAB, the accused, Chaudhry Tassaduq Pervez, submitted an application for plea bargain which was accepted by NAB and subsequently approved by an Accountability Court of Islamabad vide its order dated 15-07-2013.

Chaudhry Tassaduq Pervez paid Rs138.67 million under the plea bargain agreement against the claims of 424 affected persons.

The payment was divided into two phases. In first phase, 30 people were refunded their money in the form of pay orders at a ceremony held on Tuesday at the NAB’s Rawalpindi office and the remaining affected people would be refunded their money by crediting the amount directly into their bank accounts.

In the second phase, 375 fresh claims of Rs120 million were received at the bureau and these are also being verified through a committee constituted by the DG of NAB Rawalpindi.

The affected people will be refunded their money after completion of the verification process.