LAHORE, Feb 14: The Officers Welfare Association has levelled corruption charges against the management of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) by pointing out various irregularities.

The copy of a letter written by over 20 officials/office-bearers of the association to the ETPB chairman reveals that millions of rupees the board had already invested in banks had been withdrawn within a short span of time and later invested in an unsafe real estate as well as in the development of non-recommended sites located near/within katchi abadis, Siddiquepura and Maraka in Lahore and Nawabpur and Seetal Mari areas of Multan without seeking an advice from field officers.

“Rs1 billion were withdrawn from the banks for the purchase of 50 real estate sites in June/July 2009 through a private company, M/s Elysium Holdings, at the rate of Rs20 million per site to be sold out further in Rs30 million per unit with a buyback guarantee of 34 per cent profit after six months. Even after the lapse of 17 months, the company is neither ready to buy back the properties nor to sell them off,” the letter reads.

It pointed out that millions of rupees of the grant in aid were being bestowed upon the residents of one political/electoral constituency of Shahdara, Lahore, against the laid-down procedure. “Even the director of the chairman office, who is actually working as an officer in RBS bank, was empowered to sanction huge amounts as grant in aid to the individuals. Thus the board’s funds are being misappropriated,” it said.

It said the management had failed to obtain developed commercial/residential plots from the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in exchange of its land it surrendered to the authority about one and half years back.

“The board transferred its land to DHA in such a hurry and had even borne the cost of land registration/transfer at its own in this regard. The management is still unaware of the fate of plots it has yet to get from the DHA in exchange of land,” it said.

The letter further said as many as 214 acres of board’s most precious land in Karachi was being misused as a board’s lawyer was converting the land into plots and selling these to various people by establishing a property dealing office there for the last one and half year. The ETPB office in Karachi is not even allowed to report this fact in writing.

Moreover, the letter stated the board’s properties, converted into flats/shops at Satellite Town in Rawalpindi and Lawrence Road in Lahore were rented out to favourite persons under duress without transparent/fair auctions.

Discussing the maladministration, the letter said a number of people were appointed by the management on daily wages without following the set criterion and most of the workers, appointed already on political grounds, belonged to Shahdara. The officers, who showed their cooperation in this regard, were awarded with unlawful promotions.

“The mismanagement reflects through a case of Farhat Aziz, a stenographer removed from his service on certain allegations about five years back, who has succeeded to get him reinstated besides getting an important slot of the board’s zonal administrator in Lahore depriving other senior officers of their right to get this seat,” it added.

The board also appointed inefficient, undeserving and non-technical staff, including Khalilur Rehman, as head of technical sanction, Khurshid Ahmad Toor as mechanical engineer by violating the rules and regulations.

The management took no action against the accounts controller, who was allegedly involved in misappropriation of funds, and surprisingly and illegally gave him luxury vehicles for official use despite the fact the Auditor General of Pakistan had pointed out this illegal act of the management in its report.

The letter said the affairs of the ETPB were being run virtually by a group of unconcerned but privileged people like Rai Muzammil, Umer Sharif Bukhari, Mian Munir Ahmad and Aamir Hashmi, working presently as a liaison officer, director chairman office, board member and public relations officer (PRO), respectively. They were all appointed on political grounds, it said.

On the other hand, the letter said, the officers pointing out certain massive irregularities had to face transfers or unnecessary pressure from the management.

It said the management also appointed around 400 security guards/staff on the pretext of security threat to board’s offices despite the fact there was no security threat to the board. “They were also appointed on political grounds.”

The association through the letter asked the chairman to order reversal of all illegal acts so as to safeguard interests of the board.

“All the allegations levelled by the association are baseless as these couldn’t be proved in several inquiries conducted in this regard sometime ago. It is a group of some people who wanted to defame me by all means,” Board’s chairman Asif Hashmi commented.

He said he had always worked for the betterment of board and its employees. Mr Hashmi said as he was already upset due to such conspiracies, he had decided to resign from this post with immediate effect.