LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday told an accountability court that the payment of Rs16 billion plea bargain with the owner of Eden Housing Scheme would be distributed among the affectees of the scam in 11 equal installments.

Earlier, hundreds of affectees gathered outside the court and held a protest demonstration against the NAB and the decision of the court to approve a plea bargain of meagre amount.

The affectees also stopped the car of accountability court’s judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmad and did not allow him to enter the courts complex until the police intervened.

During the hearing, the judge asked NAB special prosecutor Hafiz Asadullah Awan that why a plea bargain of Rs16bn was made when the anti-corruption watchdog had filed a reference of Rs25bn.

The prosecutor said some of the valuable properties owned by the Eden group were mortgaged with banks. He said auction of these properties could get a handsome amount.

Advocate Zubair Khalid, the counsel for the affectees, also said that the amount of the plea bargain approved by the NAB was just peanuts. He said the cost of the housing project was Rs16bn when it was launched in 2009. He said the NAB filed its reference in 2018 and evaluated the cost of the project at Rs27bn.

Disclosing the schedule of payment, the prosecutor told the court that Rs1bn of the accused party was also lying with the NAB while the remaining amount would be started to be disbursed after six months. He said the accused would pay an installment of Rs1bn to the NAB every three month.

The affectees announced challenging the plea bargain between the NAB and the Eden housing scheme before the Lahore High Court for being unfair. They alleged that the NAB favoured Dr Anjum Amjad, the accused, by approving the plea bargain of only Rs16bn.

Late Dr Muhammad Amjad, his sons Murtaza, who is son-in-law of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and Mustafa, and wife Anjum were nominated as accused in the reference. Dr Amjad passed away in August 2021 weeks after returning to the country from Canada.

Published in Dawn,June 7th, 2022