Former Rawalpindi commissioner arrested for suspected involvement in Ring Road scam

• PM Imran Khan presented with initial report into Rawalpindi Ring Road scam. 
• Report exonerates political individual accused of being involved in scam.
• DG ACE says case regarding housing societies will be referred to NAB.

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Former Rawalpindi commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mahmood and Land Acquisition Commissioner Wasim Tabish have been arrested by Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) for their suspected involvement in the Rawalpindi Ring Road scam, announced the organisation's Director General Gohar Nafees on Wednesday.

Nafees, told the media, that the case was forwarded to ACE on May 22 and that his agency completed its inquiry 15 days ahead of the deadline.

“We examined over 21,000 pages and the alignment (track of the project) was approved in 2018 by the previous government,” said Nafees. He said that the alignment was subsequently changed and the Attock loop was formed, adding that the construction cost of the project due to the changes rose to Rs40 billion.

The DG said that in March 2020, the construction company was directed to change the alignment of the project. He said that this changed caused the length of the road to increase from 22 to 68 kilometres.

“The approval(for the change in alignment) was not taken from the Punjab chief minister,” said Nafees about the investigation. He added that new interchanges were added in the project and no No-Objection Certifications (NOCs) were taken from the Capital Development Authority and National Highway Authority.

The DG ACE explained that land cannot be acquired till the alignment is finalised. He added that land worth Rs2.6 billion was purchased without the approval of the new alignment causing the money to go down the drain.

Nafees said that the land in Rawalpindi was purchased at a lower rate and the one in Attock was brought at a higher rate. He added that the Rs2.1 billion was used to buy land in Attock.

The official said that Mahmood is suspected of misusing his powers, whereas Tabish is suspected of buying property worth tens of millions of rupees after corruption.

An inquiry into the benami assets of Mahmood is underway, he added.

Nafees said that changes were made in the project to benefit the contractor and this exposed the nexus of the bureaucracy and the property mafia.

He said that PM Imran Khan asked former commissioner Mahmood about the change in the alignment but that Mahmood "provided him the wrong details".

Nafees further said that benamidar accounts from aboard have emerged during the probe.

Irregularities have also been seen in ten housing societies, he added.

He said that the main beneficiaries of the scandal were the housing societies involved in the project.

Nafees said the new societies that were made were purchased in March 2020, adding that many people purchased the land in a hurry and launched the societies.

He also added that the case regarding the housing societies will be referred to NAB.

Investigation report clears politico

On the other hand, sources said that a political individual accused of being involved in the scandal has been cleared in the initial report.

The sources added that no federal cabinet member was found to be involved in the project.

Officials privy to the development told Geo News on Wednesday that the DG ACE, along with advisor to PM Shahzad Akbar, met Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday and presented his organisation’s initial report on the scandal.

The officials said that during the meeting, the PM was briefed by DG ACE on the report.

Sources told Geo News that the report states that Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) investigated over 21,000 pages related to the project and recorded statements of close to 100 people.

The report found out that the ring road’s alignment and award were illegal and says that ACE has registered a case against the deputy project director and other officials.

The report says that the provincial development board’s approval was not taken in changing the alignment of the road. It also said that the project director’s claim of taking instructions from Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was found to be incorrect.

The report says that the project director and deputy director proposed five new interchanges for housing societies and states that the PM’s instructions were violated in the project.

The report says that the changes made in PC-1 increased the cost of the project by close to Rs 10 billion.

Rawalpindi Ring Road scam made Rs130b in property deals in four years: investigators

More than Rs130 billion has been made in property deals as part of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project since its conception in 2017, an initial inquiry into the scam found.

According to the new official findings, 18 politically-connected individuals and 34 influential builders and property tycoons have acquired around 64,000 kanals of land in different deals within the limits of the Rawalpindi/Attock loop, Paswal Zigzag, GT Road and Islamabad Margalla Avenue, The News reported.

The value of this land was expected to multiply once work on the Rawalpindi Ring Road project started.

An examination of official records, files and initial findings of investigators linked with the project found that these 52 individuals, either directly or through frontmen, collectively acquired over 63,828 kanals of land by paying an estimated Rs31 billion to the real owners. Some portions of the lands were allegedly grabbed in the last four years.

Societies and property tycoons sold around 0.32 million files/pledges of plots by generating an estimated Rs131 billion from clients, officials revealed.

According to the publication's news report, dealers have also yet to pay tax against 67% of the land deals, which remains at Rs1.7 billion. Around 60% of societies and builders did not meet the basic registration criteria.

Hundreds of thousands of land registrations, however, were being sold to bulk purchasing investors and potential buyers on 10% to 30% down payments in the market, revealed off-the-record discussion/interviews with around a dozen senior officials of the RDA, CDA and Attock/Rawalpindi/ICT administration.

Were government officials involved in the Rawalpindi Ring Road property deals?

The possible involvement of more than a dozen government officials, including ministers, special assistants to the prime minister, MNAs, senators and MPAs, with these property deals was reviewed by the investigators too.

They could have been either direct or indirect beneficiaries of the newly-planned route had the project been executed.

"Some of them either collectively inherited over 17,110 kanals of land or recently purchased a major chunk of land, which apparently in one way or the other was close to the jurisdictions of the Rawalpindi Ring Road. Some of them had already ancestral lands in the concerned area while others appeared on the scene after the announcement of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project," the publication reported.

As many as 18 housing societies and builders purchased over 11,300 kanals land in nine mauzas, the investigation found. These were in Moorat, Jungle, Raman, Ganda, Daulat Pur, Mehlu, Bango, Kanial and Qutbal and directly or indirectly connected to the Attock Loop, according to the investigation.

These builders and property tycoons paid around Rs1 billion to the original owners of the land but they themselves generated over Rs11 billion from clients by hiking the land price in the last two years.

"Some 10 housing societies acquired over 24,540 kanals of land. Real estate players, thus, paid Rs3 billion to land owners by generating around Rs50 billion after selling files in the past four years, according to preliminary findings," the publication reported, adding that six housing societies acquired 10,871 kanals of land and made around Rs35 billion near the New Islamabad International Airport, GT Road, Paswal Zigzag and Margalla Avenue. As many as 19 of total 34 housing societies and construction companies were not registered even, revealed investigation.

Almost 60% of societies and builders are selling ownership titles of land in bulk through advertisements by showing proximity of the society with the Rawalpindi Ring Road project, the investigation found.

Some 309 individuals and 11 firms have gone into litigation against these real estate tycoons while NAB started an inquiry against seven housing societies and 15 individuals. Some 31 government officials and around a dozen retired officers of armed forces were also allegedly abetting those involved in these land dealings as well as in framing the desired Rawalpindi Ring Road alignments.

FIA, NAB, ACE to probe influential persons involved in Rawalpindi Ring Road scam

Federal Investigation Agency, National Accountability Bureau and Punjab ACE investigators will look at the influential persons who directly or indirectly got the new Rawalpindi Ring Road project alignment approved for favourable road links.

The new roads links could possibly benefit 34 plots of a former government influential and his family in Sectors C-15/16, Islamabad, and in one way or the other to 1,310 kanals land situated in the surroundings of Attock, investigators told Geo News.

The new alignment can possibly benefit a former PML-N senator who owns over 4,700 kanals in Fatehjang, Attock and Mauza Rajar, according to official findings. Meanwhile, two PPP MNAs own 2,460 kanals of land in Sangani, Islamabad, which is apparently a proposed jurisdiction of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project.

Two federal ministers allegedly owned over 1,531 kanals of land in Fatehjang and some parts of Attock border linked to the project's routes, revealed the investigation. A son of a federal minister also allegedly has shares in a private housing society that finds its feet in the jurisdiction of the project in Attock, claimed investigators.

Another PML-N MNA owned over 1,100 kanals of land near the road in Fatehjang and other parts of district Attock, investigators found, while two PML-N MPAs own over 1,400 kanals of land in Attock, close to the Rawalpindi Ring Road routes.

A PTI MNA and two PTI MPAs were also part of the group.

Six PTI MPAs allegedly owned hundreds of kanals land in the village of Qazi, 4,000 kanals in Gaggan Tehsil Jand Attock, over 600 kanals of land in Sector B-17, Islamabad, and Paswal and six kanals of land in Sector E-13 in Islamabad, along with multiple proposed link roads associated with the Rawalpindi Ring Road, according to the investigation.