ISLAMABAD, July 14 Ramzan Khokhar had been the main accused in the poor construction of the Margalla Towers which brought it down in the 2005 earthquake but he became the main beneficiary of the compensation paid to the victims of the tragedy, Dawn has learnt.

Iftikhar Chaudhry, an office-bearer of the Margalla Tower Residents Action Committee claimed on Tuesday that Mr Khokhar returned to United Kingdom after receiving Rs10.8 million in compensation for his four apartments in the ill-fated building.

More than 140 other residents of the building who survived the collapse got Rs1.7 billion altogether under a Supreme Court order. Thirteen affected families are yet to be compensated for their losses, he said.

Mr Chaudhry said before Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was made dysfunctional by former president Gen Pervez Musharraf, he had given clear orders that Ramzan Khokhar should not be paid any compensation unless criminal proceedings in the case ended and he was declared innocent.

Ramzan Khokhar had fled to UK to escape prosecution but later returned and got bail. He was paid compensation on the order of former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Mr Chaudhry alleged.

He said the Islamabad High Court has been informed that the accused had again escaped abroad after receiving compensation as "an affected person". A case was filed against Ramzan Khokhar for the poor construction of the Margalla Towers which he owned and built.

After the 2005 earthquake brought down part of the apartment building, killing over 70 people and injuring about 100, he fled to UK. He returned when the court decided he would not get any compensation for the four flats he owned in the building. Meanwhile, the 13 remaining affected families of the ill-fated Margalla Towers prayed to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary to direct Supreme Court registrar to pay them compensation money without further delay. "We have submitted the relevant documents to the committee overseeing the compensation matters but it seems to be reluctant to pay us," participants at a meeting of the affected families.

They said seven cases were approved by the previous compensation committee, but the present one headed by a deputy registrar rejected the approval during the tenure of former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.