ISLAMABAD – A four-member Supreme Court bench will resume hearing today over Pakistan Railways land leasing in Lahore at a meager price, causing Rs 25 billion loss to the national exchequer.
The court will examine the replies of three retired generals including former Inter Services Intelligence chief Javed Ashraf Qazi, Lt Gen (r) Saeeduz Zafar and Maj Gen (r) Hamid Hassan Butt, who administered the Pakistan Railways in 2001, and are allegedly involved in the Rs 25 billion scam.
Petitioners Ishaq Khan Khakwani, former Member National Assembly and Dr Mubashir Hassan, Pakistan People’s Party founding member, challenged the 1128-Kanals lease of prime land, executed between the government of Pakistan and a Malaysian consortium, associated by two Pakistani companies- Husnain Construction Company Pvt Ltd and Unicon Consulting Service Pvt Ltd- on July 26, 2001.
On last hearing, the court had directed the retired army generals to file their reply, otherwise the allegations leveled against them would be considered correct. The court had also directed the Railways chairman to furnish the Auditor General of Pakistan’s audit report and explain why Railways had not implemented the recommendations of Public Accounts Committee made on August 26, 2010.
The court had called the complete record of leasing from Railways executive committee, and issued notices to Malaysian consortium.
