LAHORE: A team of the Federal Investigation Agency raided the business offices of Moonis Elahi, son of former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi on Monday and arrested the manager of his company in connection with a probe into Rs3.3 billion National Insurance Corporation Limited land scam.
Talking to this correspondent, an FIA official alleged that the manager, Abdul Maalick, had helped men of Mohsin Warriach, one of the main accused in the scam, in opening two bank accounts in Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin.
The official said a sum of Rs220 million was deposited in the accounts and Warriach withdrew the amount before fleeing to the United Kingdom.
He also said that Warriach who was a friend of Moonis Elahi was helped by him in the matter.
“The manager of one of the banks told us that the account of a man of Warriach had been opened at the request of Maalick,” he added.
The FIA team also seized some record from the offices of Moonis Elahi in Garden Town.
FIA Lahore chief Zafar Ahmed Qurieshi is interrogating Maalick and the agency will produce him before a court on Tuesday to seek his remand.
He said the FIA had been under “extreme pressure” to release Maalick. Moonis Elahi has termed the arrest of his manager an act of ‘political victimisation’.
“The raid and subsequently the arrest of my employee show that the PPP and the PML-N are on the same page,” he said, adding he was not afraid of such tactics.
The FIA Lahore has registered two cases in connection with the scam and arrested 11 people, including former NICL chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi, former minister Habibullah Warriach, Akram Warriach, M. Zahoor, Naveed Hassan Zaidi, Syed Hur Riahi Gardezi, Zahid Hussain, Ali Ather Naqvi, Ijaz Ahmed Naqvi, Imran Saddique and Ayub Saddiq under Sections 409, 420, 468, 471, 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
Three other accused, Mohsin Habib Warriach, Amin Qasim Dada and Javed Syed are at large. The FIA has got red warrants issued for Mohsin and has requested the UK authorities for his extradition.
According to the FIR, the company of Mohsin Warriach, Messrs Privilege, purchased 803 kanals from the NICL at Mauza Toor, Lahore, for Rs1.68 billion in February this year.
“It transpired that the corporation had sold the land without getting the land mutated in its favour. This is a serious breach of financial discipline and a major irregularity,” it says.
In the other case, the NICL sold 20 kanals of land at Lahore Airport Road to Mohsin Warriach for Rs1.7 billion, at the rate of Rs53 million per kanal, causing a loss of Rs915 million to the exchequer, because the market value of the land was much higher.
The FIA had also summoned Transparency International Pakistan chairman Adil Gilani in connection with the probe into the NICL. On his refusal to appear in person before the investigation team the agency sent him a questionnaire.
The FIA wants to question the TI chairman on Niazi’s statement that Amin Qasim Dada, a member of the board of directors of NICL, had told him and other members that Adil Gilani wanted to sign an agreement with it regarding award of contracts in the proposed project and in return he would give a “clean chit” about the deal.
The FIA director said the agency would submit its report to the Supreme Court on Jan 11.
