Commissioners arrested in Rawalpindi Ring Road scam: ACE

LAHORE: Former Rawalpindi commissioner Capt (retd) Mohammad Mahmood and Land Acquisition Commissioner Wasim Tabish have been arrested by Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment for their suspected involvement in the Rawalpindi Ring Road scam.
ACE Director General Gohar Nafees announced this while talking to the media persons on Wednesday.
Nafees said that the case was forwarded to ACE on May 22 and that his agency completed its inquiry 15 days ahead of the deadline.
“We examined over 21,000 pages and the alignment (track of the project) was approved in 2018 by the previous government,” said Nafees. He said that the alignment was subsequently changed and the Attock loop was formed, adding that the construction cost of the project due to the changes rose to Rs40 billion.
The DG said that in March 2020, the construction company was directed to change the alignment of the project. He said that this changed caused the length of the road to increase from 22 to 68 kilometres.
“The approval (for the change in alignment) was not taken from the Punjab chief minister,” said Nafees about the investigation. He added that new interchanges were added in the project and no No-Objection Certifications (NOCs) were taken from the Capital Development Authority and National Highway Authority.
The DG ACE explained that land cannot be acquired till the alignment is finalised. He added that land worth Rs2.6 billion was purchased without the approval of the new alignment causing the money to go down the drain.
Nafees said that the land in Rawalpindi was purchased at a lower rate and the one in Attock was brought at a higher rate. He added that the Rs2.1 billion were used to buy land in Attock.
The official said that Mahmood is suspected of misusing his powers, whereas Tabish is suspected of buying property worth tens of millions of rupees after corruption. An inquiry into the benami assets of Mahmood is underway, he added.
Nafees said that changes were made in the project to benefit the contractor and this exposed the nexus of the bureaucracy and the property mafia. He said that PM Imran Khan asked former commissioner Mahmood about the change in the alignment but that Mahmood “provided him the wrong details”.
Nafees further said that benamidar accounts from aboard have emerged during the probe. Irregularities have also been seen in ten housing societies, he added.
He said that the main beneficiaries of the scandal were the housing societies involved in the project. Nafees said the new societies that were made were purchased in March 2020, adding that many people purchased the land in a hurry and launched the societies. He also added that the case regarding the housing societies will be referred to NAB.