Qureshi expects to net big fish in NICL scam

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce on Thursday it was tracing out accounts in which Rs 450 million embezzled in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) had been transferred and finding out the people who received a share from the booty.
Lead investigator of the NICL scam, FIA Additional Director General Zafar Qureshi, said the Rs 450 million were given to absconder Rana Muhammad Ali and other influential people could also come into the picture once the accounts were traced. The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Khurram Dastagir Khan, was told that a probe into the Rs 440 million received by former federal minister Maj (r) Habibullah Warraich had led to the revelation of Moonis Elahi’s involvement in the scam. He said Rs 220 million and Rs 100 million were recovered from two accounts being operated by Moonis’s front men.
He said hindrances were being created in the way of implementation of Supreme Court orders in order to protect Moonis. Qureshi said the entire amount of Rs 1.68 billion paid for 803 kanals of land in Lahore had been returned to NICL. Detailing the case of the second property of 20 kanals on Airport Road Lahore, he said it was bought on inflated rates at Rs 1.06 billion. It was valued at Rs 980 million by valuators Ahmad Associates hired by the Ministry of Commerce and NICL, but FIA asked NESPAK for a revaluation and it was found that the land was actually worth Rs 562.5 million.
Qureshi said Rs 80.4 million of the mentioned amount had been recovered so far. The FIA ADG said they traced the transfer of Rs 150 million from alleged bank accounts of Moonis to EFG Bank in UK, while Rs 100 million were shifted from his wife’s account in Dubai to a bank’s branch in Lahore under the head of business remittance, even though she was a housewife. Khurram Dastgir asked whether Moonis had returned any money, to which Qureshi replied in the negative. He said no progress was made in the case since April 18, the day he was transferred.
Qureshi said a lot of evidence was required to prosecute the accused and as he was due to retire on September 30, he had sought the appointment of a lawyer to prosecute and punish the accused. FIA Karachi Deputy Director Altaf Hussain informed the committee that on paper, there was no proof of Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s link to the scam, He said Fahim had granted authority for managing his accounts and land to his manager Ali Hassan, who had even contested election for a provincial assembly.