Suspecting a multi-billion rupee fraud, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday has directed authorities to freeze all bank accounts of a government-supported under-construction Thalian housing project while also warning the public against investing in the said scheme.
A subcommittee has also been formulated by the Parliament’s watchdog in order to investigate the matter in depth. Moreover, Secretary Ministry of Housing and Works, Shahruk Arbab was also reprimanded, after he denied the existence of any such scheme. A committee member demanded the immediate removal of Arbab terming him a corrupt officer.
Moreover, the finance ministry has been directed to immediately freeze all accounts opened for receiving funds from the public interested in investing in the scheme.
The PAC has formed a four-member subcommittee to further probe the matter comprising Senator Azam Swati of PTI, MNA Raja Javed Ikhlas of PML-N, MNA Arif Alvi of PTI and MNA Sardar Ashiq Gopang of the PML-N.
The fraud amount is estimated to be Rs24b, however, the precise figure will be revealed once the details are shared with the sub-committee, said Swati. He added that as many as 80,000 are members of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) and it is not clear as to how many of them have paid the first tranche of up to Rs550,000.
