April 3, 2006	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 2: The affected people of Askaria Town housing scam have demanded of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to expedite the ongoing investigation against the management of the scheme and reimburse the money of the depositors.

Some of the affected people told Dawn on Sunday that NAB’s silence on the issue had left the victims of Askaria scam in the lurch.

They said the victims were not being informed about the status of the case and when their money would be refunded.

They said earlier they were satisfied that the money invested by the public would soon be reimbursed but despite a lapse of three years and passage of more than nine months after the claims were filed, NAB had failed to provide any relief to them.

They were of the view that the bureau should make some public announcement to inform the victims about the status of the case.

Askaria Town Housing Scheme was launched in Islamabad and millions of rupees were collected from plot applicants in early 2003.

On reports of embezzlement of public money by Askaria’s management, NAB took up the probe in June the same year.

In order to arrest some office-bearers of the scheme, the NAB authorities froze the accounts of the scheme, took over the assets bought through embezzled money and recovered a large amount.