ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested on Tuesday Zafar Gondal, the former chairman of the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI), after the Supreme Court rejected his bail plea in a case of allegedly taking kickbacks and spending Rs44 billion EOBI funds.

Mr Gondal is accused of spending the Rs44 billion on purchase of land in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi at exorbitant prices in violation of EOBI rules and despite stiff opposition from EOBI board members.

Also read: Two granted bail in EOBI scam

The arrest of Mr Gondal remained a mystery for several hours because the Supreme Court turned down his plea at about 10am and he was taken into custody by the FIA at about 4pm.

Soon after the order of the Supreme Court, the accused took refuge in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) rooms and did not come out of the court building apparently to avoid arrest.

Some journalists, present in the court premises, asked SCBA office-bearers whether the accused had been sheltered by them.

The SCBA’s President, Mr Kamran Murtaza, categorically denied harbouring any such intention and said: “The accused is neither our guest nor he has been given refuge by the association.”

Zafar Gondal left the building at around 4pm and FIA personnel took him into custody outside the court building.

Gondal had filed an application in the Supreme Court against alleged harassment by the FIA.

However, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Saqib Nisar rejected his plea and asked how he was moving freely despite being the main suspect in the case.

FIA sources told Dawn that since the lapse of his one-month protective bail in May this year, Mr Gondal had been in hiding and did not attend two previous hearings of the case in the Supreme Court.

The FIA raided at Mr Gondal’s residence in Islamabad and his hometown of Mandi Bahauddin, but did not find him.

The FIA initiated investigations against him over two years ago for allegedly causing Rs44 billion loss to the national exchequer with underhand land deals, but did not try to arrest him.

Mr Gondal allegedly violated the investment rules of the EOBI to buy lands in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi at exorbitant prices.

The EOBI board had vehemently opposed the controversial land deals with selected property tycoons, but Mr Gondal allegedly enjoyed the backing of the then PPP government because his elder brother Nazar Gondal was a federal minister.

One of many controversial deals was the purchase of a plaza in Islamabad from a man named Abdul Qayyum at an extremely high price without a third-party evaluation. Mr Qayyum later told an FIA investigators that he had bribed Mr Gondal and other senior officials of the EOBI for the deal.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014