Hearing a suo motu notice case of alleged corruption of Rs 40 billion in the Employees' Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) on Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted two days to Defence Housing Authority (DHA) to deposit Rs 22 billion with the Registrar's office; or, have its accounts frozen.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also ordered six individuals involved in the case to deposit the amount of Rs 7,087 million, which had been received from EOBI for the purchase of property in Lahore in a non-transparent way.
During the course of hearing, the bench made it clear that criminal labiality against the responsible persons in the scam would be fixed later on. On July 1, the court directed Federal Investigation Agency to conduct an investigation into all the 18 transactions made in the instant case admitted by the EOBI secretary. During proceedings, Director Legal FIA Azam Khan submitted a preliminary report in pursuance of court's orders, saying FIA and District Revenue Officer Islamabad had examined the record of EOBI regarding the purchase of land. He submitted that a deal of around Rs 22 billion regarding the purchase of land between EOBI and DHA was not carried out in a transparent manner because PEPRA Rules were not observed.
Azam further informed the bench that an FIA team had also visited the site and they witnessed that no development had taken place at that spot. He also raised questions about the legality of allotment letters issued by the DHA. On the other hand, the counsel for DHA, Ahmar Bilal Sufi, informed the bench that after transaction of Rs 22 billion with EOBI, the DHA had transferred Rs 11 billion to Bahria Town for the development of 321 kanals of land. He prayed the bench to give some time to deposit the amount in the Registrar's office of the Apex court. Turning down his request, the Chief Justice observed that the Court had nothing to do with any other party, including Bahria Town in the instant matter.
During the course of proceedings, Huzaifur Rehman, who had unearthed the scam story relating to the alleged corruption in the EOBI on a private television channel, alleged that he was sacked from his job after the broadcast of that story. He submitted to the apex court that a large number of influential persons were involved in the current scam. The bench directed the owner of that private TV channel to retain the services of that journalist and pay his salary immediately. The hearing of case was adjourned till July 19.
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