LAHORE: After death of the prime suspect in the Eden Garden Housing Limited case, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is likely to initiate the auction of its properties worth over Rs25 billion to compensate over 11,000 people who were affected by the scam.

Earlier this week, Eden Housing’s owner Dr Muhammad Amjad passed away after remaining in hospital for some time.

NAB had held four meetings with the deceased to work out a plea bargain after his return to the country a couple of months ago. The court had granted him bail in exchange for surety bonds worth Rs1bn and the amount would soon be transferred to the bureau.

Last week, Dr Amjad had offered Rs9bn in a plea bargain, but NAB rejected it, directing him to pay over Rs20bn to compensate the affectees.

“The bureau will see if the other co-accused — Dr Amjad’s wife Anjum and sons Dr Murtaza and Mustafa — in the Rs25bn reference filed in the accountability court are interested in a plea bargain. If they are not willing to pay the amount the bureau will start the process of auction of the confiscated properties of the housing scheme with the court’s permission to compensate the affectees,” sources told Dawn on Thursday.

They said after the death of the prime suspect, the other three co-accused in the reference would become the main suspects as they were the main beneficiaries in this scam. The accountability bureau reportedly plans to compensate the affectees 15pc to 20pc more than their amount deposited with the housing society.

All four suspects in the case had managed to fly to Canada in 2018 after the Interior Ministry did not place their names on the Exit Control List despite a NAB request.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021