PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Thursday filed a reference with an accountability court against seven people, including former provincial minister, for causing a loss of Rs98.65 million to the exchequer.

The bureau has alleged that the accused had illegally transferred the precious government land to the Naval Families Rehabilitation Organisation (NFRO) and other individuals in Dera Ismail Khan.

Among the accused are former provincial minister for excise Syed Murid Kazim, absconding former SMBR Ahsanullah Khan, former district revenue officer Qayyum Nawaz, former district revenue and estate officer Riaz Mohammad, assistant at the Board of Revenue Gul Hassan, patwari Mulazim Hussain, and citizen Malik Abdur Rasheed.

In the case, Syed Murid Kazim, who was the minister in the previous ANP-PPP provincial government, was arrested by the NAB on Aug 3, 2015. He was later freed on bail granted by the Peshawar High Court on Sept 22.

NAB moves accountability court against illegal transfer of govt land

In the reference, the NAB alleged that Murid Kazim and other suspects were involved in the illegal transfer of valuable state land measuring 1,976 kanals in DI Khan to the NFRO in 2010 and the subsequent unlawful transfer of 182 kanals of residential land to the revenue department officials and others as kickback.

It added that the modus operandi adopted by the accused was that in 2009 the director NFRO, Bahawalpur, had sent an application stating 1,976 kanals of land allotted to the Pakistan Navy in DI Khan was not cultivable and therefore, it might be exchanged with better and cultivable land.

Under the rules, allotment of the alternate land was the competency of the chief minister of the province but the accused, Murid Kazim, being the revenue minister, abused his authority and directed the board of revenue to put up a note for allotment of alternate land to the NFRO Bahawalpur and gave illegal approval to the transfer of 1,976 kanals of land to the organisation.

According to the NAB, Murid Kazim got allotted 50 kanals of land in the name of his close associate, Syed Atta Hussain Shah. Similarly, Gul Hassan got 33 kanals of land in DI Khan and Qayyum Nawaz four kanals and three marlas of land in the heart of DI Khan city.

The former minister had already denied the charges and claimed that he had not received kickbacks in the allotment of land to the NFRO.

PROCEEDINGS STAYED: A Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday stayed the proceedings by an accountability court in a NAB reference against a couple for looting public at large in the guise of investment in the Islamic mode of investment.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued the notice to the NAB and sought explanation from it.

Ameenur Rehman, lawyer for the petitioners, including Iftikhar Hussain and wife Neelum Pari, said his clients had financial disputes with some influential persons in Mardan.

He added that a criminal and a civil case had been pending with the relevant courts in Mardan and therefore, the NAB had no authority to interfere in a purely civil dispute.

The lawyer said as his clients faced cases in courts in Mardan, they could not be tried by the accountability court as it amounted to double jeopardy, which was prohibited in the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2016