Former army chief Kayani’s brother rejects NAB charges

ISLAMABAD: Kamran - a brother of former army chief Ashfaque Parvez Kayani and proclaimed offender in the DHA City land scam - has approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) with a plea that denies all the allegations levelled against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

An accountability court in January last year declared him a proclaimed offender in the scam worth billions of rupees.

“I have been unlawfully implicated by NAB in two references,” Kamran said in two petitions filed in the court through Advocate Nadeem Kausar.

The other reference Kamran faces is that of Ashiana-i-iqbal Housing Scheme scam.

An accountability court declared Kayani a proclaimed offender in 2016 while NAB was clueless about his whereabouts.

Two other suspects in the DHA City scam, Hammad Arshad and retired Brig Khalid Nazir Butt, have already been indicted.

The NAB alleged that Globaco (Pvt) Ltd of Arshad secured a contract from DHA-EME in 2009 to acquire 25,000 kanals of land for establishment of DHA City. However, the company failed to acquire the agreed land and issued allotment letters and collected around Rs15.47 billion from the people. The suspect allegedly transferred the amount to his personal accounts and used the same for other business.

Butt was a former project director of DHA City and he is accused of misusing his office and rendering illegal benefits to Arshad.

The NAB also alleged that Elysium Holdings Pakistan Limited of Kamran Kayani was a facilitator and beneficiary of the scam.

The Ashiana reference was mainly filed against Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz ( PMLN) President Shahbaz Sharif for misusing his powers as the chief minister of Punjab.

The NAB said that Punjab Land Development Company ( PLDC) following due approval of its Board of Directors (BOD) awarded a contract for infrastructure development of Ashiana-i-iqbal housing scheme to successful bidder namely M/S Ch. A. Latif & Sons in 2013.