LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Saturday booked PML-N senior leader Khwaja Asif’s wife, a Sialkot former mayor and ex-PML-N MPA in the illegal housing scam.

According to ACE spokesperson, Mrs Asif, former mayor Chaudhry Toheed Akhtar and ex-MPA from Chunian Ahsan Raza Khan are accused of causing a loss of millions of rupees to the exchequer in the form of evasion of site map and conversion fees.

“The Kent Housing Society jointly owned by Toheed Akhtar and Mrs. Khwaja Asif had illegally included 281 kanals of land after the approval of the first map which was illegal as per Punjab government’s private housing schemes law. It had also sold out plots marked for open areas such as parks, graveyard and public amenities,” he said.

The spokesperson said Ahsan Raza Khan had incurred financial loss to the public exchequer by illegally establishing a housing scheme and encroaching one acre land of the rural health centre (RHC) Kanganpur by building a commercial market and selling its shops without any legal justification. “Khan had been selling plots in his society namely AlJanat Town without having its maps or site approved by the LDA or local municipality office.

ACE Director General Gohar Nafees said those involved in tax evasion and malpractices would be dealt with an iron hand. “Every single penny of the public exchequer will be recovered from the culprits in this case,” he said.

The NAB Lahore is already probing Khwaja Asif for illegally establishing the Kent Housing Society. According to NAB, evidence shows Khwaja Asif established the housing project which has been operating illegally.

NAB has sought records from him regarding sources and local amount of funds invested in the project by him, his family members (wife and son) and other partners/close relatives.

NAB says the former foreign minister had in collusion with the management of the society illegally occupied various pieces of land owned by individuals who never sold their land to the society.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2020