ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday recovered nearly Rs 3.25 billion in cash and property from former Balochistan Finance Secretary Mushtaq Ahmed Raisani and contractor Sohail Majeed Shah under plea bargain deals in a mega corruption scandal.
Addressing a press conference, NAB Director General Zahir Shah said both the accused had confessed to their crimes and were willing to return the embezzled amount
NAB had accepted Raisani’s plea bargain application for depositing Rs 2.25 billion in cash and property with the national exchequer. A similar application by Sohail Majeed for Rs 960 million had also been accepted.
Detailing the break-up, the NAB DG said Raisani had surrendered Rs 653.2 million in cash and 3.3 kilogram gold worth Rs 13.5 million. The cash and the gold were recovered during NAB’s raid on his residence in May, he added.
He said Raisani had also offered two properties, one in Quetta worth Rs 60 million and the other in Karachi Defence Housing Authority which was worth Rs 70 million
“These are in addition to the 11 properties already seized by NAB from Raisani and Majeed,” Shah said. The properties, including two commercial plazas, three houses of minimum 500 sq yards each and six valuable residential plots which were situated in DHA and purchased for Rs 1.25 billion, he said.
“The NAB expects to sell the properites for Rs 1.5 billion to 2 billion,” he added.
Raisani had also surrendered two luxury cars, including a Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Grande, worth approximately Rs 8 million, Shah added. The DG added that as per law, the recovered amount was transferred to the national exchequer after the plea bargain was accepted.
“The NAB will not keep a penny from this, nor does it ever keep the recovered amount,” he said. He added that any amount recovered by the NAB was handed over to the provincial governments via their chief secretaries. Hence, the total assets surrendered by Raisani were worth Rs 800 million while his 11 properties valued at Rs 1.25 billion.
Talking about the alleged corruption of Sohail Majeed Shah, who was the frontman for Khalid Lango, the ex-adviser to the Balochistan chief minister, he said that the accused had agreed to return all the money that he had passed on to others.
“He has surrendered Rs 960 million which was routed through his accounts. He has also given some valuable houses,” Shah added.
“A huge amount of Rs 3 billion was released for local government development but the lion’s share had allegedly been embezzled by Raisani and his cronies,” Zahir Shah said.
