ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday suspended the managing director and the director estate of Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation (PHAF) in connection with the bogus allotment of executive apartments to government officers.

The prime minister also ordered the director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Amlish Khan, to initiate criminal proceedings against the officers responsible for the bogus allotments.

The PHAF last month allotted 350 apartments to the officers working in BS-20 to BS-22. However, after a news report pointed out a lack of transparency in the process, Mr Sharif ordered an inquiry into the matter.

The inquiry report submitted to the prime minister said the entire balloting process was “fraud and bogus.” Subsequently, the prime minister office annulled the allotments as “void ab initio.”

An order issued by the prime minister on Friday said: “The two officers, who have been identified in the report as bearing primary responsibility for the fraudulent and bogus allotments - Mohammad Ilyas, MD PHAF, and Syeda Sahafq Ali, director land and estate PHAF, - shall be immediately placed under suspension.”

The director administration Javed Iqbal and deputy secretary housing and works Usman Sarosh Alvi, who were also part of the balloting process, have been transferred with the directions that they shall not be posted to the housing ministry or its affiliated organisations in future.

The order added: “In future, the ministry of housing and works shall advertise complete specifications of available apartments, built houses or plots along with the eligibility criteria for officers to become a member.”

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

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