The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to furnish the reference, which was filed in an accountability court against officers and officials involved in the illegal award of lease for Railway Golf Club Lahore. The prosecutor general NAB informed a two-judge bench, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, that the reference regarding the matter has been filed and now only charges have to be framed against the accused persons.
The NAB last year had filed a reference in the Accountability Court Islamabad against Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi (retd), ex-chairman Railways and former federal minister for communication and railways, Lt Gen Saeeduz Zafar (retd), Maj Gen Hamid Hassan Butt (retd), Pakistan Railways former Member Finance Brig Akhtar Ali Baig (retd), Pakistan Railways former GM Iqbal Samad Khan, Pakistan Railways former General Manager (Operations) Khurshid Ahmed Khan, Directorate of Property & Land Pakistan Railways Director Abdul Ghaffar, Pakistan Railways former Divisional Superintendents Ramzan Sheikh and Pervaiz Qureshi, sponsors of Royal Palm Golf Club, and five other officers/officials.
During the course of proceeding, Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed appearing before the bench requested the court to allow him to argue the case himself as the lawyer was paid Rs 4.5 million but now he is demanding Rs10 million that they can't pay. The court allowed his request.
Sh Rasheed said the case has been pending for the last nine years, adding the Railways' leased land is now worth Rs 200 billion. Upon that Justice Azmat asked him, "You are ruling the country. We want to take this case to its logical end." The judge asked Rasheed to come prepared on the next date of hearing.
The case was adjourned until next Thursday.
According to the NAB, the accused have committed corruption and corrupt practices through misuse of authority by the illegal award of 29 years and, thus, caused a loss of approximately Rs 2.2 billion to the national exchequer. The NAB's stance is that 'precious' piece of land of Pakistan Railway was leased out illegally in order to grant illegal benefits to the leaseholder.
Around 17 years ago, Pakistan Railways offered the lease of its Golf Club at Canal Bank, Lahore, for 33 years for which a number of firms submitted bids including MAX Corps.
During the bidding process, the lease period was illegally extended from 33 years to 49 years. Moreover, the land offered also increased illegally from 103 acres to 140 acres by demolishing the Railways Officer Colony.
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