ISLAMABAD (News Desk) – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is considering its options in filing a multi-billion rupee reference against three former army generals and retired officials of Pakistan Railways (PR), according to Dawn.
These former officials were reportedly involved in illegally allotting 141 acres of Pakistan Railways land to the privately-owned Royal Palm Country Club (RPCC) in Lahore in 2001.
The case is still being probed by NAB Rawalpindi officials -who have reportedly approached the central NAB office in Islamabad to formally file a reference against the case.
The report claimed that the reference is expected to carry the names of retired Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, Lt Gen (r) Saeeduz Zafar, Maj Gen (r) Hamid Hassan Butt and Brig (r) Akhtar Ali Baig. These officials also held top positions in the Pakistan Railways.
Other officials involved in the alleged corruption are; Railways ex-general manager Iqbal Samad Khan, former member finance Khurshed Ahmed Khan, deputy director marketing Waseem Aslam, former divisional superintendent Abdul Ghaffar, former director marketing Khalid Naqi and a person named Pervaiz Qureshi.
Following the National Logistic Cell (NLC) scandal, in which three army generals were punished for corruption by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, this case could be second major corruption bid which retired military officials have faced action.
However, if NAB is allowed to take the case to its logical conclusion, this would be the first case in which a civilian institution is able to hold either serving or retired military officers accountable for corruption. The earlier NLC scam was taken out of the purview of NAB before the anti-graft body had completed its investigations and was prosecuted in the military courts,
