September 30, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 17, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: In a delayed but precise response, a Senate committee here on Saturday directed the country’s apex corporate regulator to stop limited companies from participating in the money-minting business of launching illegal housing societies in the vicinities of the twin cities.

Many housing schemes in Rawalpindi and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) are being secretly operated by limited companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). These limited companies have pocketed billions of rupees by launching bogus housing schemes, particularly over the last decade, which later defaulted.

However, the SECP has so far failed to unearth any such company, cancel its registration or impose fines on it. These companies are in the hands of expert managers, mostly hailing from the civil and military bureaucracy and business community, who know the art of deceiving citizens under the very noses of the commission’s so-called ‘investigators’ and ‘commissioners’.

The subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights met here in the Parliament House headed by its convener, Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi.

It directed the SECP to amend, if necessary, its Companies Ordinance of 1984, which had badly failed to deliver, particularly in the case of real estate business and housing schemes.

“The SECP should take practical steps to remove lacunae from its regulations and rules by consulting jurists and the people from the legal profession,” the committee observed.

Members of the committee were of the view that the SECP should come up with a comprehensive draft law to amend its existing rules, which do not prohibit companies from running housing societies.

The committee also asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), SECP and other relevant government agencies to keep a vigil on highly misleading advertisements placed by these societies from time to time and keep on warning the gullible general public against such illegal schemes.

It expressed its concerns over the inability of these bodies to apprehend such people at a time when they float such advertisements and tempt people into ruining their hard-earned money in the name of property investment.

The committee directed the SECP to conduct a probe into the accounts of Gulshan-i-Rehman Housing Society. The commission was directed to present a report before the committee on the assets, liabilities and other financial matters of the company within 35 days.

It directed the society, originally registered as a builder/construction company, not to receive further instalments from the members till the SECP submitted the report.

The committee also directed the Jeddah Town Housing Society to provide complete details of its operations to the committee in the next meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, the convener of the committee said the mandate of the subcommittee was to look into the affairs of various housing societies referred to it by the standing committee and which were believed to be either illegal or violated certain rules or did not fulfil the promises they had made with the small investors.

He said the committee was determined to stop all sorts of irregularities being committed in a number of housing societies and to make them efficient and their matters transparent without further delay.

“We are making efforts to filter all illegal societies in this process and allow the legal ones to operate and provide their services to the people,” he added.