Pakistan: Luxury cars, gold coins, jewellery found in ex-municipal officer’s house
Karachi’s former head of Parks to be produced in court on Monday
Islamabad: The former Director General of Parks & Horticulture of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Liaqat Ali Khan Qaimkhani, who was arrested by Pakistan’s top anti-graft agency, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday, will be produced in the Accountability Court of Islamabad on Monday.
He is facing charges of illegal allotment of Bagh Ibne Qasim land to real estate enterprise Bahria Town for construction of Icon Tower. After the arrest, NAB Rawalpindi acquired two-day transit remand from Karachi Accountability Court and shifted him to Rawalpindi.
Later, he was produced before accountability court of Rawalpindi on Saturday that granted the NAB further two-day transit remand.
Qaimkhani was arrested from his palatial house located in the Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society (PECHS) in Karachi.
Valuables seized
A trove of valuables worth millions of rupees was discovered and confiscated from his residence. During the raid, the NAB team found eight top model luxury cars, gold coins, jewellery sets, expensive weapons, foreign currency, prize bonds and antiques.
Ownership files of seven luxurious villas in Karachi and Lahore were also confiscated during the raid. The valuables are expected to be worth Rs150 million, said the NAB official. Liaqat Qaimkhani’s house has a beautiful lawn, a swimming pool and remote-controlled doors to the house.
NAB’s charges against Qaimkhani
According to NAB charges, during 20 years as DG Parks, Qaimkhani had constructed 71 parks but only on paper. During his tenure, not a single park was added to Karachi. The NAB has arrested Qaimkhan in Bagh Ibne Qasim scam and assets beyond means cases.
Qaimkhani is currently facing an inquiry with regard to illegal allotment of Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim land to real estate tycoon Riaz Malik’s giant Bahria Town for its Icon Tower in Karachi.
According to NAB, Qaimkhani made all these assets through embezzlement of funds actually meant for parks and tourism spots. Officials said they had yet to open two lockers seized from his residence.
PPP condemns ‘selective accountability’
Provincial Minister for Information Saeed Ghani while condemning the recent arrests of PPP leader Khurshid Shah and former DG Parks Liaqat Qaimkhani by NAB, said Imran Khan and his sister Aleema Khan were not questioned by NAB for sources of their income.
He said “partial accountability was taking place in this country and Imran Khan was taking vengeful actions against the opposition.” He said he did not believe the allegations levelled against Liaquat Qaimkhani and had no knowledge about his income.
Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar has denied that Qaimkhani served as his adviser on parks. The mayor in a media statement said there should be some official document to support the allegation that the arrested former KMC Parks DG had worked as his adviser. “I only used to seek help from him on the matters regarding the parks when he was the DG parks,” Akhtar said.
Who is Liaqat Qaimkhani?
Liaqat Qaimkhani is from Jhuddo, a town in Mirpurkhas district. He was first appointed as an assistant director in KMC’s parks department during the tenure of former Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo in 1986.
In 1988, he was appointed as Assistant Director KMC. He purchased a 2000 square yards plot in Karachi’s Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society at an estimated cost of Rs1.4million as Deputy Director of the KMC. Qaimkhani remained director-general of the parks department from 2001 to 2011. He served on this post under two Mayors, Naimatullah Khan Advocate and Mustafa Kamal during this period.
Boost in Qaimkhani’s career
Qaimkhani has been a favourite of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders and of former Governor of Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan. Dr Khan promoted him to the Director General of the Parks and Horticulture and also played a key role in his nomination for prestigious civilian award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 2008. Later, in 2011 the then President Asif Ali Zardari awarded him another top civilian award Sitara-e-Imtiaz.