The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday revealed that currently, it is handling 44 cases of housing societies scams in Karachi alone.

According to a press release, thousands of people were deprived of their rightful titles of properties in connivance with regulators and officials of the Sindh Cooperation Department.

The accountability bureau is handling a total of 53 housing scam cases from across Sindh. "Out of 53 such cases, 12 are under inquiries, 19 under advanced stage of investigation; whereas 22 references are under trial at accountability courts of Karachi and Hyderabad. Out of these cases, 44 societies are located in Karachi whereas nine in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Jamshoro etc," read a media release.

Editorial: Real estate scams

NAB Karachi today held a full board meeting for review of the cases. The bureau's directors of investigation wings informed the authorities that the highest number of cases in the province are related to housing scams.

The officers held weak regulation and poor legal framework responsible for the situation. "It was also apprised that weak regulation on part of the governmental authorities and poor legal framework have exacerbated the state of affairs which leads to enormous number of complaints pouring in at NAB against cooperative societies," read a press release.

The director general directed the Combined Investigation Teams (CITs) to expedite the cases. He directed the Awareness & Prevention (A&P) Wing to engage with the provincial cooperation department to pursue them to take preventive measures pertaining to housing scams.

He appreciated the Investigation Wing-I for executing plea bargain in Pak Punjab Cooperative Society.