NAB Chief directs speedy recovery of looted money in Modarba scam

ISLAMABAD – Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice ® Javed Iqbal yesterday chaired a high level meeting to review the latest progress on Modarba cases at the NAB Headquarters.

He said that NAB is committed to make Pakistan corrupt free by utilizing all its resources and adopting the policy of “Accountability for All” as per law.

During the meeting, it was informed that in Mudarba case, the NAB Rawalpindi had filed a reference in the Accountability Court Islamabad against Mufti Ehsan ul Haq, CEO of M/s Fayazi Group of Industries Modarba along with 9 other accused persons.

The Accountability Court Islamabad awarded 10-year imprisonment and Rs. 9 billion fine to Mufti Ehsan-Ul-Haq while his 9 other co-accused were imposed Rs1 billion fine. That conviction was maximum in the history of NAB.

Mufti Ehsan along with 9 other accused persons were convicted after detailed perusal of solid evidence presented by the NAB Rawalpindi as per law in the Court.

The NAB Rawalpindi had filed another reference in Accountability Court Islamabad against Ghulam Rasool Ayubi and others in the Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating the public at large in the ploy of Islamic mode of investment. The Court had awarded a 10-year jail to Ghulam Rasool Ayubi along with a fine of Rs. 3.7 billion in the corruption reference filed by the NAB Rawalpindi.

The NAB Rawalpindi also filed corruption references in Accountability Court Rawalpindi against Muhammad Nazeer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Islamic Investment, and other accused persons in the Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large in the ploy of Islamic mode of investment in Rs. 95.52 million.  

The NAB Rawalpindi also filed a reference in the Accountability Court Rawalpindi against Muhammad Bilal of Bilal Trading Corporation and other accused persons in the Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large in the ploy of Islamic mode of investment in Rs 48.410 million.

The NAB Rawalpindi had filed a reference in the Accountability Court Rawalpindi against Shams ur Rehman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) M/S Al Baraka Marketing (PVT) Ltd, and other accused persons in the Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large in the ploy of Islamic mode of investment in Rs. 25.02 million.

It had filed another reference in the Accountability Court Rawalpindi against Muhammad Yasir S/O Muhammad Gulistan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Al Jazeera International, and other accused persons in the Modarba case on charges of corruption, corrupt practices and cheating public at large in the ploy of Islamic mode of investment in Rs 5.95 million. 

It was informed that during the investigations of Modarba/Musharaka Scams, it transpired that the accused persons induced the public at large to invest the amount in their businesses against attractive profits and thus looted the general public. The investigation teams are trying hard for recovery of looted money and have traced some properties, houses and agricultural lands which have been seized/ frozen.

It was informed in the meeting that the NAB Rawalpindi has filed 30 references in the respected Accountability Courts and recovered Rs.644.877837 million besides freezing assets worth Rs. 1646.5 million. The number of affectees are 31524 whereas NAB has arrested 45 accused persons in Modarba scam including Mufti Ehsan-ul-Haq, Mufti Ibrar-ul-Haq, Hafiz Muhammad Nawaz, Moeen Aslam, Obaidullah, Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, Sajjad Ahmed, Asif Javed, Ghulam Rasool Ayubi, Muhammad Hussain Ahmed, Hamid Nawaz, Muhammad Irfan, Bilal Khan Bangash, Matiur Rehman, Muhammad Numan Qureshi, Syed Aksheed Hussain, Muhammad Adil Butt, Muhammad Saqib, Umair Ahmed, Aqeel Abbasi, Mufti Hanif Khan, Nazeer Ahmed Ibrahim Alshoriam and saifullah.

During the meeting, Chairman NAB Justice ® Javed Iqbal said that NAB’s anti-corruption strategy has started yielding excellent results. He appreciated the performance of NAB Rawalpindi and directed all ranks of officers/officials of NAB Rawalpindi to make all out efforts for arrest of proclaimed offenders in Modarba/Musharka scams so that the recovered money should be returned to affectees.

He also directed to pursue proactively Modarba/Musharka corruption cases on the basis of solid evidence as per law.

An Accountability Court of Islamabad on Tuesday accepted the plea bargain application filed on behalf of builder Ehsan Elahi in which the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) recovered land worth Rs21 billion. 

Deputy Prosecutor General National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Sarder Muzaffar appeared before the accountability court along with Ehsan Elahi and informed that the anti-corruption watchdog has recovered a land worth of Rs21 billion from the accused in the fake bank accounts case.

He informed that the accused Ehsan Elahi has made his confession and requested for plea bargain while NAB recovered a total of 562 kanals of land from the accused. 

The court was informed that the said 562 kanals of government land was grabbed fraudulently by the accused through a tainted exchange with 29 acre of private land in Malir District. 

Deputy Prosecutor General Sarder Muzaffar informed that the said 562-kanal land is situated at Bin Qasim Town and fraudulently obtained by accused. Out of total, 262 kanals were originally owned by Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

He informed the court that the PSM land was taken by the Sindh government to establish a university and oil tankers yard but both could not be built on site. However, the same land was given to Ahsan Elahi through his frontman Aftab Pathan. 

The approval in this regard was given by a committee comprising Secretary Board of Revenue Sahraiz Shamoon, Deputy Commissioner Malir Qazi Jan Muhammad and another officer Ghulam Mustafa Phal.   

It was further informed that Ehsan Elahi had launched a housing project on the same land with the help of Director General Manzoor Qadir, who took Rs35 million from Elahi as bribe. 

The Deputy Prosecutor General informed the court that the same bribe money and kickbacks taken from the accused were deposited in fake bank accounts.       

The court asked the accused whether he knows or not that once his confession and plea bargain is accepted, he would be disqualified to hold any public office for next 10 years in addition to becoming ineligible to take any loan from banks. 

The accused expressed his willingness upon the plea bargain request after which the accountability court accepted the plea bargain of the accused. 

While talking to the media outside the court, Deputy Prosecutor General NAB Sardar Muzaffar declared that it is the biggest recovery in the history of NAB. He said NAB is working rigorously and 10 references have been filed regarding fake bank accounts so far.