- Rs3.35bn recovered from Raisani, Majeed
- Plea bargain of the accused raises eyebrows
- NAB says plea bargain is not ‘a negative thing’
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said on Thursday it has recovered nearly Rs3.3 billion worth of cash and properties from the plea bargain deal the bureau struck with Mushtaq Ahmed Raisani, the then finance secretary of Balochistan, and Sohail Majeed Shah, contractor and frontman of ex-adviser to Chief Minister Balochistan, as part of their corruption scandal.
At a press conference, Director General (DG) operations NAB Zahir Shah said the bureau will transfer the amount to its rightful owners after the plea bargain is materialised.
“NAB will not keep a penny from this… nor does it ever [keep the recovered amount],” he said.
He said any amount recovered by NAB is handed over to provincial governments via their chief secretaries.
The executive board meeting (EBM) of NAB, which itself had put Raisani’s corruption figure at Rs40bn, accepted his plea bargain request for Rs2bn on Wednesday.
Recovery from Raisani, Sohail
Giving a breakdown of the cash and properties seized by NAB as part of the plea bargain deal, Shah said Raisani had surrendered Rs653 million in cash and 3.3 kilogram of gold worth Rs13.5m to NAB. This cash and gold had been recovered during a NAB raid at his residence in May.
Raisani has also given up two properties, the first one, worth Rs60m is in Quetta and the other is located in Karachi’s DHA worth Rs70m.
“These are in addition to the 11 properties already seized by NAB from Raisani and Majeed,” Shah said. All 11 of these properties are in DHA and are valued at a purchase price of Rs1.25bn. They include two commercial plazas, three houses of minimum 500 sq yards each and six “very valuable” residential plots.
“NAB expects that the 11 properties will sell for between Rs1.5bn to 2bn.”
Raisani has also surrendered two luxury cars including a Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Grande both of which are worth nearly Rs8m, Shah said.
Hence, the total assets surrendered by Raisani are worth Rs800m while his 11 properties are worth Rs1.25bn.
Talking about the alleged corruption of Sohail Majeed Shah, contractor and frontman of Khalid Lango, ex-adviser to Chief Minister Balochistan, the NAB official said the accused had agreed to return all the money that he passed onto others.
“He has surrendered Rs960m which went into his accounts.”
Sohail Shah has also given up some “valuable” houses that he possesses, he announced.
NAB spokesman Asim Ali Nawazish told a local news channel that NAB will soon start the process to sell the properties through court to hand over the recovered amount to Balochistan government.
The total amount recovered from the two men amounts to Rs3.25bn, the DG NAB said, adding that the bank accounts of both men have been frozen.
The NAB official said an investigation against Lango, ex-adviser to Chief Minister Balochistan, is in final stages and his case would soon be referred to court.
Raisani hit the headlines in May this year when NAB seized over Rs730 million hard cash from his house in Quetta hours after he was taken into custody.
A NAB spokesman earlier said Raisani would be “fully cleared” after the plea bargain deal is approved by the accountability court.
Shah defended NAB’s plea bargain policy under which two key accused have ‘paid’ the way for their release from the NAB custody.
The NAB’s decision to ‘clear’ the accused has raised eyebrows.
“Plea bargaining should not be taken as negative. I want to assure you that NAB will transfer the amount to its rightful owners after the plea bargain is materialised. NAB will not keep a penny from this,” he said, adding that any amount recovered by NAB is handed over to provincial governments via their chief secretaries.
“It’s our historic achievement to recover billions of rupees while those involved are hiding their faces in shame and embracement.”