According to the ACE spokesperson, Dr Uzma Khan allegedly acquired the land worth billions of rupees through deceitful means, purchasing it for a mere Rs130 million while the land’s actual price was Rs6 billion. She is accused of illegally purchasing 5,261 kanals of land in District Layyah.
As per the spokesperson, the land was purchased via illegal mean in 2021. Dr Uzma colluded with her husband, Ahad Majid, to carry out the fraudulent transfer of the land in their names.
He revealed that the purchase was made when the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced the Greater Thal Canal project, which aimed to irrigate barren lands through the Thal Canal.
The spokesperson disclosed that Dr Uzma was aware of the Thal Canal project beforehand. She and her husband forcefully bought the land from the owners and transferred it to their names. Subsequently, the landowners filed complaints against Dr Uzma and others at the local police station.
The spokesperson of the Anti-Corruption Establishment stated that some local individuals also submitted applications to the Justice of Peace, alleging that the fraudulently acquired land was illegally seized.
The spokesperson further stated that during the investigation, the roles of government officials would be determined. The zero tolerance policy against corruption will continue to be enforced against corrupt elements, he added.Punjab’s
According to officials, the case had been registered on behalf of a deputy commissioner in Dera Ghazi Khan, and it named Buzdar’s brothers as well.
According to the registered case, Buzdar and his family have been accused of transferring 900 kanals of government land, by forging fake letters to aid in the transfer.
The case has been registered at ACE’s Dera Ghazi Khan police station. As per the report, in 1982, nearly 900 kanals of land was transferred illegally to Buzdar and his brothers, who were all minors at the time.
Buzdar was granted protective bail on Monday, regarding the ACE cases registered against him. Senior judge Shujaat Ali Khan of the Lahore High Court’s Bahawalpur bench granted Buzdar bail, and adjourned hearings until June 30.
Last month, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and spokesperson Attaullah Tarar had said that the government was planning on utilizing the ACE to book cases against Buzdar. In a press conference, he had claimed that Buzdar had ‘deprived the poor masses of their rights’ and ‘ruthlessly plundered the resources of the country’.
Tarar said the former prime minister Imran Khan had ‘facilitated’ Buzdar’s ‘corruption’, and Buzdar’s own front men had been involved in ‘plundering the country’.
Previously, Buzdar has also been linked with Farah Khan and her husband Ahsan Jameel Gujjar, who are both facing money laundering cases in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
A graft case has been registered against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief’s wife Bushra Bibi's son, Ibrahim Maneka, former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and six others in Lahore by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Media reported on Wednesday.
According to the ACE, the accused took bribes worth millions of rupees for appointments and transfers of high-ranking officials in various government departments. Amounts received in bribes were allegedly collected and deposited in different banks by Farah Gogi. Around Rs450 million have been recovered thus far, states ACE in its FIR.
The FIR maintains that the accused abused the powers accorded to them to appoint and transfer individuals to high-ranking posts within the government.
Maneka, Buzdar, Gogi, senior bureaucrat Tahir Khurshid, Ahmed Aziz Tarar, Saleha Saeed, Usman Muazzam and Sohail Khwaja have been named in the case.
Earlier this week, Buzdar, like other PTI stalwarts including Shireen Mazari and Ali Haider Zaidi, reportedly announced that he is quitting the PTI, as well as politics, in the aftermath of May 9.
In his press conference, Buzdar condemned the vandalism witnessed on May 9 - when civil and military installations were attacked by enraged protestors - and stressed that he has always stood by the Pakistan Army and continues to do so.
The controversial former chief minister of Punjab maintained that he has always believed in politics of virtue and requested all stakeholders to set aside differences and work towards the betterment of the country.
Several other PTI leaders have either renounced their positions within the beleaguered party, left it or distanced from politics altogether in the past month.
