A team of anti-corruption officials conducted a raid on Tuesday on the office of the director-general (Parks) of the defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK) in a corruption case. Sources in the Anti-corruption and Enquiries Establishment said that he was ordered to hand over the record regarding the construction of 12 parks in various areas of the city, but he is reported to have refused to do the same regarding 11 of them.
The main inquiry carried by the Anticorruption team was about the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park located near the Boating Basin within the limits of Clifton. The defunct CDGK had started the construction work on the said park in 2008. The work, it was learnt, had been executed under Director-General (Parks) Liaquat Ali Khan Kaimkhani, sources said. Initially, the estimated cost of a park scattered over 150 acres was projected to be at least Rs 870 million. However the amount was revised by the Parks Department and the final cost of the park amounted to Rs 1.5 billion, sources said.
Interestingly, there was another huge park in th same locality, namely the Boat Basin Park. However, the city administration had chalked out a plan to convert the park into the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park for which the federal government, under the special directive of President Asif Ali Zardari, had released funds without any hindrance, sources informed.
The previous park, it was learnt, had all the facilities, including a small jetty for boating, a board walk, a jogging track, a stone path, stone canopies and food courts. The sources said that the park only needed renovation and rehabilitation. After the park was made operational, the Anti-Corruption Establishment had received a number of complaints against the use of sub-standard material in the construction of the Benazir Bhutto Park and massive corruption. Finally, a complaint was lodged by the Anti-Corruption Establishment this year to investigation the alleged corruption, they said.
In February this year, anti-corruption officials, headed by Director Javed Baloch, raided the office of the DG (Parks) but the team failed to get the relevant along with 11 other parks, sources added. In this connection, Sajjad Ali, an investigation officer (IO) of the case, told Business Recorder that preliminary investigation unearthed a corruption of more than Rs 500 million in the park's construction.
The expenditure of such a huge sum of money created doubts in the presence of a park, which contained all necessary facilities, he added. He said that there was evidence regarding in dumping of sand costing more than Rs 100 million in the park, purchasing of a Neem tree at Rs 60,000 against actual rate of between Rs 500 and R800. Besides, a number of bogus entries had been included in the park which were being investigated, he added.
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