Pak's NAB files case against ex-army officers

Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed a corruption case against four former army officers.

The case has been filed in the Islamabad Accountability Court against retired Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, who served as ISI chief, as Pakistan Railways chairman and as federal minister for communications and railways, reported the Dawn.

"Other suspects include retired Lt Gen Saeed-uz-Zaman, a former secretary and chairman of the Railways Board, retired Maj Gen Hamid Hassan Butt, retired Brig Akhtar Ali Baig, Iqbal Samad Khan, Khurshid Ahmed Khan, Abdul Ghaffar, Ramzan Sheikh, Pervaiz Qureshi, sponsors of Royal Palm Golf Club and five other officers allegedly involved in illegal award of lease of railways golf club, Lahore," the report said.

The Pakistan Railways illegally enhanced the lease period of its golf club in Lahore from 33 years to 49 years.

In addition to this, the land offered also increased illegally from 103 acres to 140 acres by demolishing the railway officers colony, causing a loss of around Rs2.2 billion to the national exchequer.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) carried out a separate probe its report said that 141 acres had been allotted, causing a loss of Rs 4.82 billion to the national exchequer.

The filing of the corruption case against the former Pakistani military officers is in line with the Islamabad High Court, which last month observed that retired military officers could not hide behind the army's accountability process.