KARACHI: Former director general of parks and horticulture at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Liaquat Ali Khan Qaimkhani embezzled at least Rs1 billion through fraudulent schemes, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alleged on Friday.
The former DG, who was arrested in a raid by the accountability bureau earlier on Wednesday, headed a group of financial racketeers that included former members of the KMC and senior politicians from different political parties, the bureau told the media.
According to the statement released by NAB, Qaimkhani was involved in setting up 71 ghost parks in Karachi over a period of 20 years. He also registered fake companies for carrying out ‘repairs and maintenance’ in the ghost parks, revealed officials from NAB.
NAB has decided to file up to three more references against the accused, who was also an adviser to Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar.
According to the details provided by NAB, the luxury items recovered from the residence of Qaimkhani on Thursday are worth Rs10 billion, while jewelry items seized from the house are worth Rs150 million.
Earlier on Thursday, officials of NAB Rawalpindi had acquired a three-day transit remand of Qaimkhani in the Bagh-e-Ibne Qasim scam. Qaimkhani was accused of awarding fake contracts as DG Parks in the metropolis, as well as illegally allotting a plot from land meant for a park in Clifton.
Qaimkhani, currently embroiled in a fake accounts case, was living in an opulent, palatial residence — worth millions, in PECHS society with sprawling lawns and a swimming pool.
His bathroom alone was spread over two marlas. Among valuables recovered from the former DG Parks’ house were eight imported luxury cars, gold bangles and necklaces, diamond jewellery, weapons, and files of millions of rupees worth properties in Lahore and Karachi.
Pleading innocence, the former DG Parks Qaimkhani said all the cases against him were false and staged, and that he will prove all the allegations wrong in the court of law. He said that he belonged to a landlord family and that all the properties are shared.
