ISLAMABAD: The News on Oct 6, 2018 ran a front page story titled “NAB’s Ashiana scam is really scandalous”.Today an official document, available with this correspondent, containing startling facts makes it is a fit case for the country’s superior judiciary to see how innocent people are made accused and accused made innocent here in the garb of accountability.In Ashiana Housing case two different anti-graft government agencies — the NAB and Anti-Corruption Department Punjab — drew totally conflicting conclusions in their separate probes but what finally matters is the NAB and its decisions.Ashiana Housing case which is becoming a scam for the NAB with each passing day, is taking another interesting twist with the findings of the Punjab Anti-Corruption Department’s report altogether opposite to what the NAB is presently propagating.The report, which strangely remained under the rug till now and has never been mentioned by the NAB even once, was the final finding of inquiry which was ordered by the then Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif after receiving the initial inquiry report by Tariq Bajwa-led committee in March 2013.Initially, Fawad Hasan Fawad and later Shahbaz Sharif was dragged into the Ashiana case by the NAB, which finds alleged corruption in Fawad’s recording Sharif’s 2013 orders for an inquiry by the Anti Corruption Department (ACD) into alleged wrongdoing by the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) officials and Ch Latif and sons (CALSON), the contractor.The ACD report, which has been in possession of NAB since it took up Ashiana case, proved all the allegations leveled by a private party against PLDC officials regarding wrongdoing in connivance with CALSON for the award of Ashiana contract in favour of CALSON. Interestingly, the report also spoke negatively about the other company, ConPro which according to NAB was to be favoured by Shahbaz and Fawad.The fifty page report conclusively found that Mr Amir Latif, owner of CALSON, met management of PLDC at a private home before the bids were submitted by the contractors. It also proved that engineers of PLDC did make changes and interpolation in the bid documents of CALSON in order to make it the lowest bidder. The report says, “It is proved that Mr Ali Moazam Syed, project director, held a meeting with Amir Latif and Burhan Ali (Contractors) at his residence on the day of bidding…….. His collusiveness in tampering with the bidding documents is established specially in the circumstances when without that tempering/cutting Ch A Latif & Sons would not remain the lowest bidder.”“Ali Moazzam, Project Director PLDC, Amir Ali, Ch A Latif & Sons and Burhan Ali are found guilty of tampering with the bidding documents.”The most shocking finding of Anti-Corruption team was that security, bid money and bank guarantee deposited by CALSON in support of its bid for Ashiana was “forged” and was from an unauthorized financial institution “Trust Investment Bank”.Not only that the Trust Investment Bank was not authorized to issue bank guarantee, even the bank disowned the guarantee and termed it forged.According to the ACD report, “The CDR (call deposit receipt) bearing no 000583 dated 29-11-2012 was received, from Burhan Ali on behalf of M/S Ch A Latif & Sons, in favor of PLDC in the bid opening held on 30-11-2012. The enquiry committee observed that the Trust Investment Bank was not a commercial bank and it cannot issue CDR as per the licensed issued by SBP. Therefore, if any CDR was presented which claimed to be issued from Trust Investment Bank then PLDC should hold that instrument and get it investigated.The committee approached the management of Trust Investment Bank to ascertain the facts and to know whether that alleged CDR was issued by that bank or not. The bank management vide letter dated 30 August, 2013 stated, ‘We the Trust Management Bank hereby confirm that we have not issued any CDR to any person or the company in favour of PLDC or any other department for any amount. Therefore, Trust Investment Bank will not take any responsibility or liability for such instrument’.”Astonishingly despite these findings of the Anti-Corruption Department CALSON is treated as the darling child of NAB in Ashiana case. On the contrary Anti-corruption department accordingly had registered a criminal case against six persons including those representing CALSON and PLDC. The anti-corruption report also revealed that even ConPro, which had lodged a complained on the basis of which the then chief minister had referred an inquiry to Tariq Pasha-led committee, was not eligible for the bid since it deposited its papers after the deadline.This fact also rebuts NAB’s contention that Shahbaz and Fawad wanted to favour ConPro, the company owned by Kamran Kiani (younger brother of the then Army Chief General (R) Ashfaq Pervez Kiani).About ConPro, the report clearly said the prequalification of contractors, tendering process and award of work were not dealt with in accordance with prescribed procedure and rules. It added that M/sConPro Services did not apply for prequalification to PLDC. It is also proved that ConPro’s tender documents were accepted directly and processed for pre-qualification and thus the authorities violated the integrity pact. The report termed it a criminal misconduct by the officials concerned.Strangely, after the NAB took up the Ashiana case from the Anti-Corruption Department, the tables were turned. Shahbaz Sharif and Fawad Hasan Fawad, who held inquiry into the wrongdoing and was proved by the ACD Punjab, became accused and are languishing in jail whereas CALSON and PLDC officials who were reflected negatively in the anti-corruption inquiry report became innocent and blue-eyed boys of the bureau.The CALSON got a clean chit from the NAB and is presently contractor for multi-billion rupee Peshawar Metro Project while the then senior officials of PLDC during whose tenure the wrongdoing happened are enjoying attractive postings.Since the voluntary agreement of cancellation of contract came to light as already reported by this newspaper, and now after the coming into surface of this anti-corruption report, the whole NAB’s Ashiana case has become dubious even before the filing of a reference.Meanwhile, according to some newspaper reports, family sources of Fawad Hasan have alleged that after failing to find any wrongdoing against the former secretary to PM, the NAB had launched a media campaign to influence judicial proceedings and discredit the confined official.They alleged that the NAB was feeding misinformation that Fawad Hasan had sought plea bargain, which his close family source forcefully deny and assert why would an innocent person seek plea bargain and how can there be a plea bargain without a formal NAB reference.The officers’ family has demanded the CJP and NAB chairman to inquire into these illegal activities of NAB Lahore.A key ground made by NAB for Hasan Fawad’s arrest was that he pressurized Tahir Khurshid, the then CEO of PLDC, into canceling the Ashiana contract. However, the record and voluntary agreed cancellation showed that the contract was terminated after mutual agreement in November 2013 months after both Fawad Hasan and Tahir Khurshid had already been transferred from Punjab to federal government.
from The News International - National http://bit.ly/2EHMjCv
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