PR No.98 Interior Minister chairs meeting on One Constitution Avenue Islamabad: March 10, 2017

The Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has directed FIA and office of Advocate General to take up the case with Islamabad High Court for vacating the stay order in respect of FIA’s inquiry against the builder and the CDA officials in One Constitution Avenue case.

He said that activation of FIA’s inquiry must ensure that every penny of national exchequer is recovered and those who have been partners in this mega corruption are brought to book.

The Minister was chairing a high level meeting to look into issues relating to One Constitution Avenue after the landmark judgment of Islamabad High Court into the case. Chairman CDA, Secretary Interior, Advocate General, senior officials of FIA and Interior Ministry attended the meeting.

The Minister also directed CDA to approach the buyers so as to evolve a mechanism for speedy settlement of their investment dues in One Constitution Avenue.

It is worth mentioning that FIA was probing into the matter of mega corruption in One Constitution Avenue on the directions of the Interior Minister to investigate massive loss caused to the national exchequer. The inquiry was aimed at bringing all those CDA officials to justice who were negligent in performance of their duties and were conniving with the building owner.

It emerged during the course of FIA’s investigations that a loss of over  Rs. 33 Billion has been caused to the national kitty in the leasing, construction and sale of apartments of One Constitution Avenue.

During the FIA’s inquiry, it was revealed that the one of the precious lands of the capital located at prime location was leased for 99 years on much cheaper rates as compared to the actual market worth at that time. The dubious leasing process had cost billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer. It also surfaced during the enquiry that allegedly scope of work was changed illegally with connivance of CDA officials which resulted in construction of residential apartments, sold by the lesee instead of construction of serviced apartments  which were to be constructed besides a Five Star Hotel. Besides, post-bid terms and conditions were also changed as compared to pre-bid and illegal rescheduling of payments, elimination of bank guarantee and performance guarantees were revoked in a fraudulent manner. The owner of the building was also unable to pay principal amount of Rs 3.6 billion and a markup of Rs6.7 billion.

The Interior Minister directed FIA to follow zero tolerance approach against all those officials who had willfully trespassed their official duty and become an alleged partner in this white collar crime.

The Interior Minister also directed Additional Secretary of the Interior Ministry to look into various options for alternative use of the high-rise building and put up proposals in this regard for the Prime Minister’s consideration.

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