RAWALPINDI, JUL 14 (DNA) – A team of Punjab’s anti-corruption establishment has arrested former Commissioner Rawalpindi Captain (retd) Muhammad Mahmood over his alleged role in the Ring Road scam case.
The sources privy to details said that besides the arrest of former commissioner Rawalpindi, the anti-corruption department also arrested chairman land acquisition Waseem Tabish.
ACE Director General Gohar Nafees while confirming the arrests during a presser and said that Waseem Tabish purchased properties after the scam while an audit of the assets of Captain (retd) Muhammad Mahmood is currently being investigated.
The anti-corruption official said that they examined 21,000 documents to conclude their investigations and it emerged that the total cost of the project was raised to Rs60 billion after a change in the alignment of the Ring Road project. “It previously included a cost of Rs 40 billion on construction and Rs16 billion for land acquisition,” he said and added that even approval for change in alignment was not sought from the chief minister Punjab.
He said that private housing societies were given the advantage of the change in the alignment as massive purchasing began in the areas after March 2020. A fact-finding inquiry committee detected large-scale irregularities in the Ring Road project.
The inquiry committee formed by the Punjab government revealed that former commissioner Muhammad Mehmood made illegal changes in the actual plan of the Rawalpindi Ring Road to benefit some influential persons. Former LAC Waseem Tabish and former government officer Abdullah were also involved in the scam, said the report.
It is pertinent to note that Muhammad Mehmood previously served as Secretary, Agriculture Department Punjab. He is an officer of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS). He has completed his M.Phil. in Public Policy from Australian National University, Canberra and Master of Science in Development Economics, IDS from University of Sussex, United Kingdom.
former special assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari has resigned from his public office after an inquiry into the Rawalpindi Ring Road project after his alleged involvement in corrupt practices. Bukhari also sent a defamation notice of Rs1 billion to Rawalpindi Commissioner Gulzar Hussain Shah, the officer who had prepared a report on the Rawalpindi Ring Road scam.
Denying all “adverse statements, remarks, allegations, [aspersions], averments and imputations” made in the officer’s report on the Ring Road project, the legal notice demanded of Mr Shah to “withdraw, recall and retract the said defamatory statement” and tender a public apology properly disseminated through media within 14 days. In case the officer does not retract and publicly apologise, legal proceedings would be instituted against him, the notice said.
On April 23, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to launch an investigation into the alleged changes into Rawalpindi’s Ring Road project. PM Imran Khan had taken notice of the alleged changes in the direction of the multi-billion project in violation of the proposed plan in order to benefit private housing societies. = DNA
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