FIA arrests former ETPB chairman Asif Hashmi

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore on Wednesday arrested PPP leader and former chairman Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Syed Asif Hashmi on the charges of alleged tampering in allotment of trust’s land in Gujrat.

According to FIA sources, 13 kanal of ETPB’s land was allocated to a lessee in Gujrat through tempering in the allotment process which caused a loss of Rs 135 million to the national exchequer.

Read more: FIA registers cases against ETPB management

According to FIA sources, around a dozen cases have been registered against Asif Hashmi and other ETPB officials. Former and incumbent ETPB officials have been booked under section 109, 420, 409 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) r/w 5(2) 47 Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) soon after the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) observed several lapses in allotment procedures causing loss of billions of rupees to national exchequer during Hashmi’s tenure. Asif Hashmi remained chairman ETPB during the PPP’s tenure of 2008 till 2013. Hashmi was facing charges of selling ETPB’s property illegally and allegedly facilitating land mafia to occupy its precious commercial and residential properties.

The SC gave the order after the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) found massive irregularities in the affairs of ETPB in selling and auctioning its properties during the last 20 years, a claim the ETPB officials had rejected. The FIA was investigating over 500 audit paras, in which gross violations of the ETPB Act were observed by the audit.

According to SHO Anti-Corruption Circle of FIA Lahore Benish Rehman, Asif Akhtar Hashmi was directly involved in misappropriating 13 Kanal prime urban land in Gujrat city worth Rs. 135 million.

According to the SHO, FIA on the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has started a probe into misappropriation of ETPB lands and abuse of authority by ETP officials.

Benish Rehman said the PPP leader was also involved in various (12) other cases of misappropriation of ETPB lands and embezzlement in public funds and suspected to be involved in laundering of crime-proceeds locally and abroad.

Read more: SC orders FIA to file case against encroachment on Dharamshala land

“A special team will conduct a detailed probe,” she further said.

So far, as per sources, many commercial and urban properties worth billions of rupees have been retrieved by the FIA.

Earlier in 2018, Asif Hashmi was arrested by FIA on the orders of the then chief justice Pakistan Saqib Nisar in a case of alleged embezzlement of Rs 1.5 billion.