SLAMABAD: At his first executive board meeting on Thursday after assuming charge of the office of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, retired Justice Javed Iqbal ordered inquiries into alleged corruption in the Multan Metro Bus Project (MMBP), the New Islamabad Airport, the sale of PIA aircraft and money laundering activities at the Habib Bank’s New York branch, besides taking several other important decisions.
The meeting gave approval to eight inquiries and two investigations into various corruption cases.
Recently, a Senate panel decided to expand the scope of its investigation into alleged corruption of $17.5 million in the Multan Metro Bus Project (MMBP) and the transfer of money abroad, as fresh details revealed a link between a top official of China-based Yabaite Technology Company Limited and the Yabaite Pakistan Construction Group Private Limited.
The Yabaite-Pakistan is among three companies working on the Rs17.6bn ($167m) MMBP. The China-based Yabaite Technology is also facing a probe by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) over alleged violation of Chinese securities laws.
The NAB has already approached the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to ask for complete records of the MMBP after initiating a probe. On a complaint of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the FIA had in September started probing allegations of money laundering and corruption within the project, and in October the NAB chief ordered the Bureau to initiate a probe.
The FIA sent the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the SECP several letters requesting records of the project’s executing firm Yabaite and details of 16 international companies involved in money exchange over the past few years.
The FIA investigators have recorded the statements of Sheikh Ijaz Asghar and Salman Iqbal of Yabaite Pakistan. The police had arrested the suspects after registering a first information report against them for fraud in connection with the MMBP.
In October, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) directed the NAB to probe allegations of financial misconduct surrounding the construction of a baggage terminal at Islamabad’s new airport. The cost of the terminal was quoted at Rs3.9bn in the Project Concept-I, even though the actual cost was about Rs6.5bn.
Audit officials told the committee that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had issued a tender for the project without obtaining a licence from the Engineering Council. The CAA had applied for a licence after issuing the tender, resulting in a three-year delay in the project, the auditors said. It was evident from audit reports that Rs1.5bn had been embezzled in the project.
