LAHORE: Former PML-N MPA Malik Saiful Maluk Khokhar, who is considered close to the Sharifs, on Wednesday recorded his statement to the National Accountability Bureau in connection with the bribe allegation against him in the Ferozepur City Housing Society scam.

“Mr Maluk had been summoned on the charges that he had received Rs80 million as bribe from the prime suspects in the Ferozepur City Housing Society scam.

Mr Maluk had (allegedly) received the sum from the suspects for securing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for their housing project from the Lahore Development Authority,” an official source told Dawn.

He said the NAB got the record of the bank transactions between the suspects and the PML-N leader. He said Mr Maluk was also questioned on the statements of the suspects who alleged that despite receiving the money he could not manage to help them acquire the NoC from the LDA.

Mr Saiful Maluk defended himself and denied receiving the amount from the suspects for getting the job done.

“I had sold a piece of land near Lake City to the suspects against Rs80m and I have provided (record of ) related bank transactions to the NAB. I have also submitted an affidavit to the bureau,” Mr Maluk told Dawn.

He said he had got nothing to do with the NoC or affairs of the Ferozepur Housing Society.

The NAB last month arrested three owners of the Ferozepur City Housing Society for defrauding some 5,000 people.

According to the NAB, Naeem Ahmad, Nadim Ahmad and Nazar Muhammad had launched the scheme without getting an NOC.

“The suspects deprived the public of millions of rupees by selling them plots files. They sold plot files to some 5,000 people,” a NAB official said, adding the NAB Lahore director general authorised the investigation in April last following the allegations of involvement of the suspects in corrupt practices and cheating the public at large.

The source added that an owner of a major Lahore-based media group had also sold some 350 kanals of land to the suspects against over Rs1bn. “The NAB is also looking into this deal,” he said.

The NAB has also arrested a former LDA director for his alleged involvement in this scam.

According to NAB, the suspects launched the housing scheme on Ferozpur Road, Lahore, in 2016 and managed to collect up to Rs3 billion from around 5,000 people on the pretext of booking of residential and commercial plots.

“The suspects launched a massive advertisement campaign and began selling illegal files of plots to the public despite the fact that the alleged scheme was yet to be registered with the LDA,” it said.

The LDA had also issued a show-cause notice to the owners of the scheme to prevent them from selling files/plots and running the advertisement campaign but to no avail.

The NAB Lahore got published an advertisement in different newspapers against the administration of the housing society on May 6 for obtaining claims from the affectees of the scam. In response to the advertisement hundreds of claimants approached the NAB.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2018