The National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) Karachi chapter has requested its chairman to start a fresh inquiry against Fazaia Housing Scheme (FHS) Karachi on the allegation of "cheating public at large", a press release issued by the accountability watchdog said on Friday.

It added that the probe against FHS and others has been requested to address the grievances of a "huge number of affectees" — i.e. 6,000 people — who were allegedly defrauded under the housing project.

The matter involves an amount of Rs13 billion invested by the general public.

The NAB chairman "has been requested to initiate [a] fresh inquiry on the allegation of cheating public at large to provide relief to the affectees", according to the statement.

It said that NAB Karachi is determined to complete the inquiry at a fast pace and "hold accountable all the persons involved".

According to the scheme's website, the FHS was launched by the Pakistan Air Force for serving and retired personnel and civilians in March 2015.

In March 2018, NAB's executive board had decided to hold an inquiry against officials of FHS Karachi, and Sindh’s Board of Revenue and Land Utilisation Department to investigate alleged irregularities in a land deal.

At the time, the officials of Sindh’s land and revenue departments had been accused of providing land illegally to the FHS management.