Big guns involved in property scam: Supreme Court reprimands NAB's Deputy Director for conducting faulty investigations

A full bench of the Supreme Court here Wednesday reprimanded Deputy Director NAB for conducting faulty investigations into a property scam wherein some big wigs are also involved but the official failed to come clean about them. Bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that the courts from the civil to the Supreme couldn't be dodged by anyone now.
He asked the NAB to be fair and act with a sense of responsibility realising its duties and obligations. The bench intended to get the NAB IO Ziaullah Khan arrested in the open court and summon the Chairman NAB, but stayed short to first seek action on the matter by the Director General NAB, who will present his report to the Court on Thursday (today).
Hearing the bail matter of a forax-cum-property dealer, Mohsin Ayub, under NAB custody over the last four years, the Court learnt from the petitioner that five big guns namely Senator Gulzar, his sons Senator Waqar, Senator Ammar, former Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum and DSP Iqbal Tikka were the undercover beneficiaries who implicated the accused/petitioner in false case to grab a 12-kanal commercial site, Qasre Zauk, near Liberty Market.
The petitioner alleged that he entertained investments of the people but was allegedly trapped by the said ones who, through Tikka, abducted him to took him first to a Johar Town cell and then to Faisalabad and took into possession the power of attorney in respect of the investors and got signed some papers in their favour.
The petitioner told the court that property in question was purchased by him from one Ashfaq Sheikh and his family. The investors, including the said ones, who later managed to rob him of the property, setting the claimants after him to ultimately take the matter to the NAB, which now through unfair probe was covering the actual offenders.
It was on the record that the NAB court had ordered freezing of the property and a stay about its transfer was also passed by the LHC but the NAB, despite all that, sold and transferred the same to Asian Gas of Senator Ammar. The NAB, IO had no answers to that and tried to lead the court to some other aspect of the matter. The investigation record and what the NAB officer stated before the court was at variance, which irked the Court seriously.
The state counsel Mian Bashir also vindicated that said five had invested in the deal and later on the property was sold out to Ammar's company in the face of freezing and stay order. When asked by the court how the property was transferred Ziaullah said, it was benami property. Justice Ramday said on that it was not the NAB but the court to determine a property benami. And it was surprising for the court that the IO at the same time said, the property was in fact purchased by the petitioner when also had to satisfy the claimants.
The CJ said on it the court would not spare anyone who found dishonest about the investigations and the court would go to any stage to take him to task. How daringly the NAB officer was telling lies before the court, the CJ said describing the IO dishonest not straightforward and warned that, the IO would be wrong if he thinks he can dodge the court.