LAHORE: Over 250 affectees of different housing societies registered their grievances with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday during an open court proceedings.

The affectees sought justice and recovery of their looted money.

NAB Lahore Director General Amjad Majeed Aulakh listened to their grievances and issued on-the-spot instructions while updating them on the progress of their ongoing cases.

Affectees from various housing societies and Ponzi schemes, including State Life Cooperative Housing Society, Palm Vista Housing, Prime Zone, and Bold Vision, as well as employees of ForU Real Traders, New Lahore City project, Qasim Garden, Defence Paradise, Faisalabad and employees of Rahim Store participated in the open court session. Regarding Palm Vista Housing, the NAB arrested two directors, Mahmoud Tariq and Amer Azeem, who were accused of embezzling Rs1.4 billion from 295 affectees in the scam.

To further investigations and recovery of looted funds, the accused had been remanded in custody until Oct 30.

The NAB director general also informed the affectees that efforts were underway to repatriate the main absconding accused Qasim Khan through Interpol. However, all movable and immovable assets of those involved in the fraud have been frozen.

The State Life Cooperative Housing Society affectees sought affiliation and NoC from NAB.

The DG assured them that the NAB would provide 6,750 affectees with developed plots worth Rs60 billion within a month. He also informed that NAB had helped 650 affectees of this society in securing plots worth millions of rupees from the society’s administration 10 years ago.

Regarding ForU Real Traders, Mr Aulakh said that NAB had received 800 claims worth Rs583 million and got the accused placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) and assets details from other government departments were also sought.

Talking to the Prime Zone affectees, he assured that the main accused Imran Ali would be brought back through Interpol, and teams had been formed to arrest other absconding accused.

Addressing the affectees, the DG stated that NAB Lahore’s top priority was to promptly recover losses. In the past year and a half, NAB Lahore distributed Rs23 billion among 31,000 affectees.

Meanwhile, a delegation comprising students and faculty members of the Government Dial Singh Graduate College, Lahore, visited the provincial headquarters of the bureau.

The visit aimed to promote NAB’s soft image and to bridge the gap between general public and the national institution.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2024