Fazaia Housing Scheme case to be taken up on June 5

The accountability courts’ administrative judge on Thursday adjourned the hearing of the 18-billion-rupee Fazaia Housing Scheme land fraud case until June 5 without conducting any proceedings because the lawyers did not show up.

The judge, Dr Sher Bano Karim, had remarked during a previous hearing that around 120 days on, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had yet to present the reference in court and the watchdog had been making excuses, due to which the case was prolonging.

The judge again expressed displeasure over the lawyers’ absence and issued notices to all the parties involved in the case to ensure their presence on the next date of hearing.

Earlier, investigating officer Aslam Abro had told the court that NAB and the suspects were in negotiations over retuning the amount to the people affected by the scam and that was why the reference was not being filed.

Two suspects, Tanvir Ahmed and Bilal Tanvir, who are top managers of the Maxim Properties, are in custody on charges of cheating the public in the name of the Fazaia Housing Scheme launched as a joint venture with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in 2015.

According to the prosecution, the suspects kept the location of the project hidden to dodge the general public in the name of the PAF with the intention of minting as much money as they could.

The prosecution said they defrauded people of around Rs18 billion in the name of apartments, bungalows, surcharges and processing fees, adding that the suspects, in connivance with their accomplices, also tricked the PAF into accepting a land falling in the K-IV project for its housing scheme.

The prosecution also said that this land was exchanged with another government land, which was required to be inspected, as both the builders had yet to disclose its location.

Due to their allegedly deceitful scheme, the suspects altered the layout plans six times and finally decided to build 8,083 units in which the PAF owns 4,042 units and the Maxim Properties had the right to 4,041 units.

A progress report by NAB reads that the PAF had sold only 1,542 units out of its quota to its employees. During the scrutiny of the record, it was found that contrary to the proportion agreed upon, the suspects had sold around 5,750 units, which was 1,700 units more than their fixed quota.