LAHORE: Dubai police will hand over the former chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board and PPP leader, Asif Hashmi, to the Pakistani authorities in a week or so, officials say.

“The interior and foreign ministries have completed the legal requirements with regard to extradition of Asif Hashmi and he is likely to be handed over to the Pakistani authorities in a week,” an official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Dawn on Sunday.

He said Mr Hashmi might be handed over to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) first for interrogation in connection with the cases pending against him.

Mr Hashmi was arrested in the first week of April by Dubai police, which handed him over to the Interpol. The Interpol acted on the request of the FIA, which had got issued his red warrants in over Rs1 billion ETPB-DHA deal scam.

The FIA and NAB have booked the former ETPB chairman in connection with land, housing, recruitment scandals.

Hashmi remained ETPB chairman between Dec 2008 and March 2013. Soon after completion of his tenure he left for Dubai.

The main case against him is the board’s shoddy deal with the DHA, Lahore. The DHA had acquired ETPB’s 843 kanals located in Mauza Mota Singhwala and Mauza Lidhar (where Phase-VI of the DHA has been developed). The ETBP had allegedly agreed to receive 25 per cent of the ‘undeveloped’ plots, instead of 33pc, thus benefiting the DHA.

As the case landed with the FIA, the DHA agreed to revise the deal agreeing to develop 33pc of the plots and not receiving development charges from the ETPB in order to compensate its loss which was approximately over Rs1 billion.

Mr Hashmi had taken the plea that the entire ETPB board had approved and recommended in April 2009 the transfer of land with 25pc exemption plots, thus having endorsement of the federal government which had also conducted a special audit of the board affairs twice during his tenure.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2016