Pink Residency case: Record submitted to NAB, AC has been tempered: counsel

ISLAMABAD: A defence counsel on Tuesday alleged that the record submitted before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Accountability Court with respect to Pink Residency reference has been tempered.

The prosecution witness, Asif Sarki, registrar, Ghadaf Town, while testifying before the Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Azam, in the Pink Residency case against the Omni Group's Abdul Ghani Majeed, Khwaja Anwar Majeed, and others, said that the record he had produced had his signature, and the date mentioned on it.

The counsel for the co-accused, Abdul Jabbar and Muhammad Shabir, during the cross-examination of the defence counsel said that the record produced before the NAB and the court had been tempered.

There is a difference between original documents and the report submitted to the anti-graft body and the court, he further said. When the defence asked the witness, are the dates in the report submitted by you correct? The witness replied that his signature was present on the report and the dates were correct.

He further said that the report had been prepared by his assistant. You cannot avail assistance from his assistance during cross-examination, the counsel told the witness.

The counsel asked the witness that the report states that seven acres of land was transferred from Aslam Qureshi to Pink Residency.

It is true that the land was transferred from Aslam Qureshi to Pink Residency, the witness said. To a question, the witness said that all legal formalities had been fulfilled for acquiring land of Pink residency.

Following completion of cross-examination of witness, Asif Sarki, the court summoned two more prosecution witnesses, and adjourned hearing of the case till November 19th.

The reference pertains to a project, "Pink Residency" in Karachi's Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.

The accused had been allegedly involved in illegal regularisation of two plots in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

One of the plots measured 23 acres of land, while the other was of seven acres.

The anti-graft body has alleged that financial transactions related to the illegally-regularised plots were conducted through fake bank accounts.

The NAB estimates that the illegal land regularisation and consequent sale caused a loss of Rs4 billion to the national exchequer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020