The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab established a claim verification and disbursement cell (CVDC) in Lahore on Thursday for speedy disposal of claims of Double Shah scam victims.
The cell has started functioning on regular basis to meet the challenge of handling thousands of claims. The NAB has made successful strides in the recovery of sacked money from the fraudsters and its return to investors in an organised manner.
An amount of Rs 3.4 billion has been recovered from various accused people belonging to five main groups involved in the scam through voluntary return and plea bargain. Of the recovered amount, Rs 1.328 billion has been distributed among 24,987 investors. 100 percent payment of claims up to Rs 100,000 has been made to 14,145 individuals, reducing claimants from 46,364 to 32,219. The NAB has also facilitated claim holders of up to Rs 50,000 at their doorstep by establishing camps at Wazirabad and Sambrial.
An investigation team has also been instructed to follow up the recovery process and ensure speedy trials in the Accountability Courts in case of defaults. The Double Shah Scam is one of the biggest financial frauds in the history of Pakistan which originated in Wazirabad, Gujranwala district and Sambrial, Sialkot district during 2005 – 2007. The perpetrators indulged in parallel banking system at individual level by unlawful collection of deposits.
The unscrupulous plunderers not only deprived the general public of their hard earned money worth Rs 9.086 billion through cheating but also shattered socio-economic fabric of the area. Posing confidence, the complainants approached the NAB Punjab for redressal of the grievances followed by a formal complaint lodged by the State Bank of Pakistan. Proceedings were initiated by the NAB and a special cell was set up to handle this mega scam and dedicated teams were constituted to unearth the crime.
Trail of each and every financial transaction executed by the accused persons was scrutinized to dig out final destination of the sacked money. An extensive campaign was launched for collection of claims from those affected through electronic and print media resulting in 46,364 claims worth Rs 9.086 billion against the accused. All the main accused involved in the scam have been arrested and recoveries are in progress through voluntary return and plea bargain in addition to trial in the Accountability Courts.
