ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday decided to file a corruption reference against four CDA officials and the owner of Safa Gold Mall for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices.

NAB’s executive board meeting, which was presided over by Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal, decided to file the reference against the four retired and serving CDA officials for giving undue favour to the owner of the Safa Gold Mall, Rana Abdul Qayyum.

The executive board approved the reference against former director general building control Ghulam Martaza Malik, former director building control Khalil Ahmad, deputy director Ammar Idrees and former assistant director Khadim Hussain. These officials and the owner of the mall are already in jail after the anti-graft body arrested them in November last year.

Retired and serving officials are accused of giving undue favour to Safa Gold Mall owner for making changes to layout plan

NAB had took the action after the CDA board decided to cancel the plot allotted to Safa Gold Mall for constructing three illegal storeys and other violations in the building plan.

The CDA had auctioned the plot in Jinnah Super Market in 2010, where once its health department had a dispensary. In a questionable move, the civic agency converted the plot of the health facility into a commercial one.

“In the allotment letter, it was clearly defined that the floor-area ratio of the building would be 1:5 with 100pc coverage and the number of storeys would be ground plus four, thus capping the height of the building. In no case could the number of storeys be enhanced in violation of the relevant planning parameters and clauses of the allotment letter,” stated an inquiry report of the CDA.

The report was finalised by a committee which was tasked with probing the role of four officials.

However, the inquiry committee cleared two officials, Sarwar Sindhu and Ali Abdullah, and held two others, Ghulam Murtaza Malik and Ammar Idrees, responsible for giving undue favour to the allottee.

The committee had also recommended that the three illegally-built storeys be removed but former acting CDA chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz ordered a fresh inquiry, saying just two officials could not have been involved in the mega scam.

When NAB took action, the CDA stopped proceedings on the inquiry.

A case is still pending in the Islamabad High Court which had directed the CDA to come up with a solution to the issue.

Member Planning Asad Kayani had proposed before the board that Rs1.7 billion penalty should be imposed on the violators but the CDA board decided to cancel the plot.

Following this, NAB, which had first started an investigation into the dubious project in 2013, decided to take action against the officials.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018