ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday stopped the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) from proceeding with the Rs3 billion housing scheme at Thalian, near the Islamabad motorway exit and ordered the reopening of an inquiry into another Rs2.7 billion housing scheme in Bhara Kahu.

During the scrutiny of audit paras related to the Ministry of Housing and Works, PAC Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah remarked that a private construction company, KS Builders, was advertising the Thalian housing scheme using a photograph of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Housing Minister Akram Khan Durrani and the official logo of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF).

The Thalian housing scheme is a joint venture of FGEHF and KS builders. Under the project, the builder has to procure and develop a housing scheme spread over 7,000 kanals.

The scheme offers 12,138 plots to employees of federal government, as well as the general public.

When the PAC chairman drew attention to the use of the PM and minister’s photos and the official logo, Housing and Works Secretary Shah Rukh Arbab expressed ignorance ofthe advertisement.

The committee warned employees of the federal government and the general public not to invest in the scheme and also constituted a four-member committee to thoroughly examine the project and establish how the private builder could use the likenesses of the prime minister, housing minister and FGEHF logo to market the scheme.

The special committee consists of PML-N MNAs Sardar Ashiq Hussain Gopang and Raja Javed Ikhlas and PTI MNAs Dr Arif Alvi and Azam Swati and has been tasked with completing the inquiry within 15 days.

Though Mr Swati suggested the chairman issue directions that the society refund those who had made down-payments on plots, the committee directed the housing foundation to stop collecting money from the general public and government employees until further orders.

The FGEHF had shifted thousands of leftover applications for plots in sectors F-14 and F-15 to the Thalian scheme and included it in the membership drive for phase-II in these sectors.

PAC also asked a sub-committee on the Bhara Kahu housing scheme to ascertain why the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) did not examine alleged irregularities in the purchase of land for the society.

The committee was of the view that the cost of land was less than Rs100,000 per kanal, but FGEHF allowed the developer, Green Tree, to purchase it for Rs950,000 per kanal and paid the developer accordingly.

Mr Shah estimated that the builder and FGEHF had caused a loss of Rs2.25 billion to the public exchequer.

When the committee asked NAB to inform it about progress in the investigation, NAB Director Masood Alam said Director General Nasir Iqbal could not come to the meeting due to other engagements.

However, he said the bureau had investigated the case and found no criminal element, adding that the case was subsequently closed and NAB was currently mediating between FGEHF and the developer.

This response irked lawmakers, who expressed a lack of confidence in the NAB investigation.

When the committee tried to get the opinion of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), an official informed the PAC that FIA Director Hazrat Ali had left, due to an emergency.

This annoyed Mr Shah, who said the director should have sought permission from the chair before leaving the committee meeting.

He directed the committee secretary to write to the NAB chairman and FIA director general to protest the casual attitude of their staff.

Committee members, including Ashiq Gopang, Azam Swati, Chaudhry Tanvir and Sheikh Rohail Asghar objected to the investigation, saying that NAB seemed to be protecting certain FGEHF officials and the private builder who had overcharged federal government employees.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2017