LAHORE: Eden Garden Housing Limited owner Dr Amjad who had fled the country three years ago to escape arrest in the housing scam case, returned to the country and had a meeting with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday to seek a plea bargain.

“After securing a protective bail Dr Amjad held a meeting with the NAB Lahore and sought a plea bargain (PB) worth Rs9bn. The NAB rejected his request and asked him to pay at least Rs16bn (in plea bargain),” a source told Dawn on Saturday.

Dr Amjad was of the view that he had already compensated some of the affected people that was why he requested for Rs9bn. Rejecting his request, the NAB said it would not agree on less than Rs16bn, the source said and added that earlier Dr Amjad before coming to Pakistan had requested for plea bargain worth Rs13bn. There are more than 11,000 affected people of Eden society.

Dr Amjad and his sons fled to Canada in 2018 after the Ministry of Interior did not place their names on the Exit Control List despite NAB’s request. Subsequently, NAB seized property of the Eden Garden Housing Limited worth more than Rs15bn and announced that it would start compensating the affected people.

The PTI government had given hope to the affected people of retrieving their hard-earned money.

Meanwhile, NAB Chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal is likely to distribute Rs900 million among the affected people of the Gujranwala Motors case next week. The NAB had a PB worth Rs2bn with the Gujranwala Motors.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2021