Pakistan has been beset by the malaise of corrupt real estate developers and land tycoons reneging on their contractual obligations, defrauding the public and getting away with brazenly illegal acquisitions and activities because of their wealth and influence. But the reason the massive Rs 17 billion DHA City Lahore property scam has become such a massive national scandal is not simply because of the details of the scam but because of the protagonists involved. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is currently investigating and targeting a man for his suspected role in facilitating and benefiting from the unfulfilled deal between the main accused Hammad Arshad, owner of the company Globaco, and DHAEME Lahore back in 2009, where the former agreed to acquire 15,000 kanals of land for a prospective DHA city. The man in question is Kamran Kayani, the brother of former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and it is this association that gives this scandal immense weight since it has potentially harmful implications for the institution of the army. It merits mentioning that Kamran Kayani has been the subject of NAB’s scrutiny before, when a few months ago he and his company Elysian Holdings were issued a notice by NAB for the illegal sale of allotment certificates in DHA Islamabad worth Rs 500 million. However the notice was never responded to and the matter dropped out of the public’s eye until this recent scandal. Now it appears that Kamran Kayani has left the country and is an undisclosed location, even though he was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) when the scandal emerged.
The other brother of ex-COAS General Kayani, Amjad Kayani is denying the insinuations that the former army chief was in any way involved in the activities of his brother while also protesting the innocence of Kamran. However, long before this scandal broke, Kamran Kayani’s activities in the real estate market were the stuff of urban legend. Irrespective of Amjad Kayani’s statement, the entire affair reflects poorly on General Pervez Kayani and the institution he represented since most of the actions Kamran is accused of transpired during his six year long tenure as the head of the army. While no one can accuse the former COAS of partaking in Kamran’s alleged crimes, his pregnant silence on the matter is becoming more and more deafening by the day. General Kayani owes it to the reputation of the office he held to clarify his side of the story and let it be known how such shenanigans by his brother escaped his notice. The current leadership of the army also needs to realise what the implications of letting the family of a former chief off the hook couldl be on their standing. The sense that well connected people can avoid even responding to allegations of this nature must be quashed. Kamran needs to be brought back to Pakistan so that the course of the law can decide his guilt or innocence.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/12-Jan-2016/personal-integrity
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