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 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.
“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 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
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