KARACHI: Acting upon the complaints of the affectees of Fazaia Housing Scheme scam, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team on Saturday raided the marketing office of the scheme and arrested Maxim Group’s Ch Tanveer along with his son Bilal.
The team of anti-graft watchdog, which raided at the marketing office of Fazaia Housing Scheme, also seized important record related to the scam.
“Investigations have been initiated over the complaints of the affectees, which are more than 6,000 in numbers,” said NAB officials, adding that Rs13 billion was invested in the scheme.
The officials said that NAB Karachi has been tasked by the bureau chairman to complete the inquiry into the matter with immediate effect. “No approvals from Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Karachi Development Authority (KDA) or Malir Development Authority (MDA) were sought neither any worthwhile work was done on the site during the last five years. All accounts of Fazaia & Maxim have been frozen by NAB. The [NAB] teams are conducting raids to arrest other accused also.”
On November 30, NAB had announced a fresh inquiry against the Fazaia Housing Scheme regarding “allegation of cheating over 6,000 people” after scores of affected persons protested at its Karachi headquarters.
Dozens of people, including women and children, had also staged a protest demonstration at the Fazaia Housing Scheme office earlier last month. The event was widely highlighted on social media as the users shared the footage of the protest and interviews of the protesters.
In one of the videos, the protesters were seen exchanging words with a man in uniform who, while trying to pacify them, shared a few details with regard to the progress made so far.
“It is unfortunate that we got involved with wrong, untrustworthy and shameless people,” he had said while responding to the people’s demand for the refund of their money.
When asked for the refund, the uniformed official told the protesters in the video that “your money is currently in a joint account”.
