Ring Road scam: Former Rawalpindi commissioner to stay in jail
He has been accused of illegally acquiring govt land
Photo: File
A Lahore court has extended the judicial remand of former Rawalpindi commissioner Captain (retd) Muhammad Mahmood and land requisition officer Wasim Tabish for their alleged involvement in the Ring Road scam.
The suspects were presented in court Wednesday. According to FIA’s anti-corruption department, they have been accused of illegally acquiring government land.
“Captain Mahmood encroached the land and unlawfully began construction of the Ring Road project,” an FIA officer said.
The court has extended the judicial remand of the suspects and has adjourned the hearing till August 25.
In the previous hearing on August 5, the former commissioner went to court seeking bail in the case. Mahmood’s petition stated that the federal government is taking revenge from him in the name of “retaliatory action” against politicians for disobeying “illegal orders”.
He was arrested on July 14. Details revealed that the investigation agency has given a clean chit to many political figures in the case. The case does not mention the name of any members of the Cabinet.
Ring Road scam
A fact-finding committee of the Punjab government in its report earlier this year said that the map of the project was changed and several new routes and interchanges were included to benefit a few housing societies. The changes in the alignment increased the project cost to Rs25 billion. It stated that the previous government had approved the alignment of the ring road in 2018, and it was changed by Rawalpindi’s former commissioner Mahmood.
The former commissioner and project director of Rawalpindi Ring Road also lied to Prime Minister Imran Khan in a meeting by telling him that the design of the road was not being changed and only service roads were being established along the ring road to benefit housing societies, it added.
The report was forwarded to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar by Chief Secretary Jawwad Rafiq.
Following this, NAB ordered an inquiry. It claimed Captain (retd)Mehmood and Tabish unlawfully paid Rs23 million to acquire land for the road, according to the report. They facilitated a well-known family of Sangjani in doing so.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had also accused two cabinet members of their involvement in the matter through the re-allotment of land for the Ring Road project.
The bureau claimed that the change in design benefitted many housing societies too.
