LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a former chief of the Evacuee Trust Pro-perty Board (ETPB) and PPP leader, Asif Akhtar Hashmi, in a land fraud case.

       “On Wednesday, an FIA anti-corruption team arrested ex-ETPB chairman Asif Hashmi for his direct involvement in misappropriating 13 kanals of prime urban land in Gujrat worth Rs135 million,” a senior official told Dawn.

       “Hashmi was also involved in 12 other cases of misappropriation of federal government land and embezzlement of public funds, and suspected to be involved in laundering of crime proceeds locally and abroad,” he said, adding that a special team was conducting a detailed probe into the matter.

       Mr Hashmi is now being tried in 16 cases instituted by the National Accounta-bility Bureau (NAB) and FIA. He had secured bail in 14 of these cases and was acquitted in one. The FIA arrested him in the 16th, a land case.

       The accountability bureau had arrested Hashmi on his return from the UAE last year.

       The PPP leader had been accused of misusing his authority and misappropriating public funds. NAB also accused him of selling 1,946 kanals of the board to the DHA at a throwaway price. In another reference, it accused him of making illegal investments worth Rs1,870m with a private company that caused a huge loss to the national exchequer.

       Hashmi was recently acquitted in a case filed by the FIA on charges of distributing ETPB donations worth millions of rupees on personal choices.

       He had served as chairman of the ETPB from 2008 to 2013 in the Yousuf Raza Gilani tenure. He was considered ‘very close’ to the then prime minister.

       Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2022