RAWALPINDI, Dec 8: As many as 661 victims of the cooperative scam received Rs22.71 million at a ceremony held at the Liaquat Memorial Hall here on Saturday.

The beneficiaries, all of whom belonged to the Rawalpindi division, had accounts of less than 200,000 with the fake cooperative societies that were set up by some swindlers in collusion with some legislators of the time a few years ago.

The cheques were distributed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez. District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani, district Army Support Team chief Brig Tahir Mukhtar and Naib Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas also attended the ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, the NAB chairman termed the cooperative scam the biggest tragedy to have ever befallen the country, recalling that it had affected 20.66 million people whose collective losses amounted to Rs13 million.

He said the returned money had come from the owners of the cooperatives societies, around whom the noose had been tightened on the directives of the president.

The governments’ of the past on the other hand had made payments after obtaining loans from the nationalized banks, he said and added, the volume of these loans had doubled by now because of the heaped-up interest.

He expressed his gratitude to the banks on the waiver of Rs2 billion interest on these loans.

Appreciating the patience of the affected people, the NAB chairman said the bureau would ensure payments to all of them.

Earlier, District Nazim Rawalpindi Raja Tariq Kiani said Rs240 million had been paid back to the affected people of the Rawalpindi division in three stages.

He said the culprits were influential people whom nobody would dare touch. However, he added, the return of the looted money had been made possible by endless endeavours of the NAB and the Pakistan army.

He appealed to the people to never deposit their savings with unregistered schemes or private banks. Saved money should only be invested in the national saving schemes, he added.