Remand of ex-MD EOBI extended in AKD fraud case

KARACHI: The Federal Anti-Corruption Court (FACC) on Monday extended the period of physical remand of former Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) Managing Director Imtiaz Ahmed till February 12. 

Imtiaz Ahmed is alleged to have caused around Rs290 million losses to the EOBI by having collaborated illegally with the AKD Securities.  Three of the AKD officials, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Farid Alam and two directors Muhammad Iqbal and Tariq Adam, are already under detention in this fraud case.

The court was informed on behalf of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that three of the accused involved in the fraud case are already under detention and these accused had disclosed the name of Imtiaz Ahmed to the FIA. 

Upon their pointing out, the FIA had arrested Imtiaz Ahmed as accused involved in misappropriation of huge funds of the EOBI. The accused had told that they had purchased the EOBI shares on the instigation of the then EOBI Managing Director Imtiaz Ahmed that caused great loss to the national exchequer. 

The Investigation Officer prayed the court to extend the physical remand of Imtiaz Ahmed for further interrogation and to know other details including recovery of necessary data as well.  The court granted the request and remanded Imtiaz Ahmed to the FIA till February 12. 

The court also accepted an application moved by the attorneys for the absconding accused that had requested the court to entertain the bail pleas of around 10 absconding accused who were unable to appear in the court.

As many as 18 accused are on the run and the court has been directing the IO to arrest all the accused and produce them in the court. On January 12, 2016, three accused involved in EOBI corruption cases were sent to the central prison on judicial remand by the FACC.

When the three accused, AKD Securities CEO Farid Alam and directors Muhammad Iqbal and Tariq Adam, were produced before the anti-corruption court concerned, the judge inquired from the investigation officer (IO) about the failure of arrest of other 19 accused involved in misappropriation of millions of rupees by preparing fake documents.

The IO said that the other accused had been settled in Lahore and Faisalabad. He said that efforts were being made to arrest the other accused. The court had ordered arrest of all the accused and submission of final charge-sheet against the accused in the case. The accused are involved in misappropriation of huge funds that caused a loss of around Rs290 million to the national exchequer under shares of the EOBI.

The accused, Farid Alam, CEO of AKD Securities, Tariq Adam, Director and Head of Equity Operations, AKD Securities, and Muhammad Iqbal, another director of the AKD Group, had been taken into custody by the FIA during a raid on the company offices on January 4. 

It may be mentioned here that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) during the previous government had started investigating the matters of the illegal construction of an up-market housing scheme, namely, Naya Nazimabad, on valuable state land, the fraudulent property deal between Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and the AKD Group, construction of an irregular multi-storey building, Arkadians Towers, and the Ogra corruption case against the AKD Group.

It is said that NAB had forwarded a letter No 1(315)/K/MW-II/NAB HQ/2015 directing the Bureau’s director-general in Karachi to initiate an inquiry into complaints of massive corruption against a certain businessman (Aqeel Karim Dhedhi).

On January 19, the court concerned had rejected the bail applications of three senior officials of the AKD Securities in a graft case. As many as 22 accused have been nominated in the interim charge-sheet submitted by the investigation officer (IO) in the corruption cases against AKD Group in January.

Top officials of the AKD Group, the EOBI and a textile mill are accused of stock market manipulation to earn illegal gains and deliberately causing losses to the state-run pension fund. On Saturday (January 16) the IO had told the court that the AKD Group had caused loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer by selling five lakh (500,000) shares.