KARACHI, Oct 19: Deputy Secretary General of the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, has demanded Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, to order an enquiry into the failure of the National Accountability Bureau in recovering assets from the chairman and directors of the Alliance Motors who were in their custody for two years.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, who is also MMA’s deputy parliamentary leader, recalled that thousands of people, including widows, orphans and pensioners had invested their lifelong savings in the Alliance Motors in the hope to boost their income from the profit, but like all other investment firms it was also declared bankrupt.
He said that since then the affected people had been running from pillar to post to recover their principle amount and had filed a suit in the Sindh High Court in December 1989 in Karachi. Besides, the NAB Sindh was also apparently trying to resolve the issue.
The MMA leader said that the Sindh High Court on the request of two joint liquidators had allowed to make a payment of 25 per cent to the affected from the money deposited with the Sindh High Court from the sale of the assets of the Alliance Motors.
The court had also ordered the NAB to deposit, with the High Court, the money it had collected from the accused in its custody.
“Surprisingly NAB failed to recover any amount from the accused, but now in an attempt to cover up its failure in recovering money from the accused, it is trying to give the impression that the cheques being planned for distribution to the affected are from the money it recovered. In fact the amount is drawn from the deposits of the proceeds of the assets of the Alliance Motors,” he said.
He said that about 50 thousand investors from Karachi had invested a total principled amount of Rs4000 million, and so far the Sindh High Court had recovered about Rs1000 million which were being distributed.
He added that it had been brought to his knowledge that out of 50,000 investors over 30,000 were left out reportedly from the list prepared for paying 25 per cent of their investment. He said the consequences of that could be serious emotionally.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said it was a matter of record that the amount deposited with the High Court was recovered from the proceeds of the assets of Ibrahim and Tayyeb, while from the chairman and other directors Asghar Qureshi, Hamid Qureshi, Nasrullah Qureshi and Ahmad Ali Qureshi nothing had been recovered so far by NAB.
In reply to a question he said if the affected people were not paid before Eid-ul-Fitr, the matter would be raised in the Parliament and protest sit-ins and camps would be set up outside the Parliament.