LAHORE: Following orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC), the FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA) launched a countrywide probe against theofficials of Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) for causing a loss to thetune of Rs77 billion due to alleged irregularities.
The FIA officials confirmed on Wednesday that they had started the probeinto the affairs of the ETPB as an SC bench, led by Chief Justice JusticeGulzar Ahmad while hearing a case on November 16, had ordered the DirectorGeneral FIA to identify board officials (former and incumbent) responsiblefor the “big loss.”
“We have started several inquiries at FIA Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad,Peshawar, etc. into ETPB’s affairs. We have held a couple of meetings withETPB officials and have sought complete records from them,” a senior FIAofficial told Bol News.
He said that the FIA would examine their record and take strict actionsagainst the accused officials if found guilty and added, the SC had giventhem one month to submit a preliminary report on the matter.
The top court gave the orders after the Auditor-General of Pakistan (AGP)submitted its forensic report — conducted on the orders of SC — related toETPB.
“This court has passed an order dated 31.03.2021 by which theAuditor-General of Pakistan was directed to conduct a forensic audit of allthe properties lying in trust with the Board under Evacuee Trust PropertyBoard Act, 1975 and to give a comprehensive report.”
The SC also appointed Dr Shoaib Suddle, Chairman One-Man Commission, tolook into the affairs of ETPB.
The court observed Dr Suddle had stated that the ETPB board did notcooperate with the AG, and instead of providing complete records, itprovided less than 50% of property records. At one instance, it added,there were 7143 urban units in which serious irregularities were foundwherein the amount involved was staggering to Rs77.597 billion.
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The SC observed it was told that the board had submitted 17 volumescontaining records of the 48,000 properties belonging to the government ofPakistan.
“It is stated that three properties have been sold; one to DHA, Lahore, thesecond to Multan Development Authority (MDA) and the third to TalibHussain.”
The top court observed that “let full record regarding the selling of theland to above three entities/persons be furnished to the court and alsoprovide to the Court material and law based on which the sale could havebeen made.”
The SC also directed to issue notices to the DHA, Lahore, Director GeneralMultan Development Authority and Talib Hussain to show under whichauthority of law they could acquire the land belonging to the federalgovernment of Pakistan, lying in trust with the ETPB board.
“In the circumstances, let a copy of the report of Auditor-General ofPakistan be provided to the Director-General, FIA, who shall take immediateaction against the officials, who are found responsible in the commissionof irregularities in the matter of properties lying in trust with the Boardand in this regard shall deal with all past, and present officials of theBoard and they be dealt with in accordance with the law.”
