ISLAMABAD: An accused in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) scam case claimed that he had been made a scapegoat to protect influential people.

Waseem Aslam Butt, the former CEO of Elysium Holdings Pakistan, in a bail plea filed with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday alleged that brothers of former army chief, retired General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, were involved in the scam but the responsibility of wrongdoing had been shifted to him.

According to the bail petition of Mr Butt, Kamran Kayani, Amjad Kayani and Baber Kayani, the brothers of the former army chief, as well as senior DHA officials were responsible for the wrongdoing.

He also accused the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of protecting Gen Kayani’s brothers.

“NAB has continued to give protection to Kamran Kayani and his brothers and used the petitioner as a scapegoat,” he alleged.

In a bail plea filed with IHC, Waseem Aslam Butt alleges that brothers of former army chief retired Gen Kayani are involved in the scam

NAB had arrested the suspects - an ex-director project of DHA, retired Col Sabahat Qadeer Butt, former administrator of DHA, retired Brig Javed Iqbal, and Aslam Butt - for allegedly causing a huge amount of loss by illegally selling non-saleable certificates of the project in violation of the contract between the DHA and the Elysium Holdings Pakistan.

NAB said Aslam Butt, who was also a prime suspect, sold the non-saleable certificates of DHA in violation of the agreement and without paying the land owners. In reply, Aslam Butt said embossing the words “non-saleable” on the allotment certificates was not an obligation of the company under the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) and it did not result in any loss.

Apart from Aslam Butt, the two former army officers have also approached the IHC, seeking bail in the case.

In the petition, Aslam Butt’s counsel Chaudhry Abdul Aziz stated that Butt was “an innocent target of a witch-hunt and is being used as a scapegoat to protect the true culprits.” The counsel said it was astonishing how the petitioner was facing charges when Kamran Kayani and Aftab Raja, who were the owners of the company and had sole decision-making powers, had been exonerated by NAB.

He added that Aslam Butt had resigned in 2012 and the company was taken over by Hammad Arshad and the sale of the company was handled personally by Kamran Kayani.

Aziz said, “Kamran was 100pc owner of Elysium Pakistan and irrefutable proof of this was handed over to NAB by the petitioner. The arrest warrant of Kamran has never been issued by NAB despite his refusal to answer the repeated summons NAB sent to him.”

He said Aslam Butt simply reported to and was under the Board of Directors which was fully controlled by Kamran Kayani.

Aslam Butt has also accused DHA Islamabad of land acquisition and gaining monetary benefits from the company. “Despite contributing nothing towards purchasing the land, the DHA Islamabad was to be paid Rs4 billion by the company as royalty payments under the original JVA,” he alleged, adding the amount was increased to Rs5 billion through coercive tactics adopted by the DHA.

He said the DHA Islamabad “grabbed the company by the short hairs knowing that the company had made a substantial investment in the project and would have no other option but to acquiesce.”

The only contribution of the DHA was the issuance of introduction letters to potential investors and the allotment certificates. No financial contribution has been made by DHA to date. “DHA has suffered no loss. Rather they have benefited by gaining thousands of kanals of land worth billion of rupees free of cost,” he alleged.

Separately, NAB had launched an investigation against Kamran Kayani over his alleged involvement in more than Rs16 billion DHA City Lahore scam.

The DHA City project was launched in 2009 primarily to accommodate and facilitate the families of martyrs, war wounded and soldiers of Pakistan armed forces by allotting them small plots in recognition of their services.”

Kamran Kayani of Elysium Holding and Hammad Arshad of Globaco offered their services to facilitate DHA Lahore to carry out the project by acquiring land. However, they failed to deliver the plots to the soldiers and families of martyrs and the public even after six years.

When Dawn spoke to retired Brigadier Amjad Kayani, the elder brother of the former army chief, he rejected the allegation of any involvement of the Kayani brothers in the scam. He, however, said after examining the petition and proper scrutiny of the allegations he would be able to give a proper response.

“There is nothing in black and white before me and until or unless I have get hold the relevant record, I would not be able to give a detailed version,” said Brig Kayani.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2016