A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed hearing of a suo moto case pertaining to the EOBI corruption scandal. The chief justice observed during the course of hearing that the court would not allow wastage of the poor peoples’ money at any cost.
The court ordered that the bank accounts would remain frozen until the Defence Housing Society deposited the amount.On the previous hearing on Wednesday, the court had directed the DHA to deposit within 48 hours Rs22 billion with the SC’s Registrar office or face freezing of all its bank accounts.
On Friday, the court ordered freezing of bank accounts after its counsel Ahmer Bilal Soofi informed the court of the DHA’s inability to deposit the amount, saying the Authority had paid back banking loans while some amount was reserved for development works.
The court also directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to continue its investigation and take strict action against those involved in the case.
Ahmer Bilal Soofi told the court that the DHA made partial payment of Rs12 billion to Bahria Town as construction and development cost and about Rs9 billion were given to bank to clear the liabilities of DHA. He further said that 70 to 80 percent of the development work was completed in the DHA and his client wrote to the EOBI in January 2013 to take possession of the plots.
During the proceedings, Additional Director General (Immigration) Azim Khan submitted a primary report in response to the court orders saying the EOBI had purchased 321 Kanals of land from the DHA on January 1, 2012 against the payment of Rs15.47 billion.
He said allotment letters of the plots were made in the name of the EOBI, adding that as many as 250 plots measuring 8 Marlas each were also purchased along the Islamabad Expressway, Islamabad.
Azim Khan further informed the court that an inquiry into the purchase of Crown Plaza in F-7 Islamabad was under process. However, he said, apparently the EOBI had failed to observe the PEPRA rules in the deal.
He submitted that the forfeited property owned by the former chairman EOBI Zafar Iqbal Gondal included 537 Kanal land at Mandi Bahuddin, a farmhouse measuring 4 Kanal and 8 Marlas at Bani Gala Islamabad and a plot measuring 356 sq ft in G-11 Islamabad.
He said an FIR was registered against those who managed to purchase a Land Cruiser from the EOBI’s fund. While giving details of the properties purchased in Lahore by the EOBI, Azim Khan said property worth Rs1.87 billion was purchased in the Eden Housing Society in Lahore and Faisalabad, Rs2.60 billion were invested in River Edge Housing Society Lahore, Rs1.15 billion were paid to the Pak Arab Housing Society Lahore and EOBI invested Rs1.43 billion in Mughal Engineering Housing Society, Lahore.
Azam Khan further told the court that the EOBI also invested in Karachi and two plots were purchased at various locations of the metropolitan city whose titles were not cleared. He said three persons were taken into custody after launching an FIR there, adding that another inquiry was under process in Sukkur relating to the current matter.
Appreciating the efforts of FIA, the chief justice observed that influential people seemed to be involved in the scam but they could not influence the apex court. “Officials of the agency are supposed to show tangible results by probing the scam in a professional way in order to save the poor people’s investment in the current case,” the CJP added.
The counsel for the Eden Housing Society submitted that his client was ready to submit a cheque of the amount it had received from the EOBI. Later, the court adjourned the hearing till July 26.
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