PESHAWAR: An accountability court here on Saturday rejected the bail applications of two suspects arrested in a multi-billion-rupee fraud case involving land marketing.
Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Hamid Mughal heard the case related to the land marketing scandal and announced the verdict on the bail applications of the accused, Abdul Waheed Butt and Bilal Hassan. Both suspects were accused of collecting over Rs4 billion from more than 1,600 people.
During the hearing, NAB Special Prosecutor Habibullah Baig informed the court that the accused deprived citizens of their life savings under the pretext of real estate investment and failed to cooperate with investigators during the inquiry.
The court was told that Bilal Hassan, owner of Star Land Marketing Company, allegedly used the company’s registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as a cover to lure investors. He reportedly promised plots in well-known housing societies in Islamabad and Peshawar and collected billions of rupees from the public.
According to the investigation, funds collected from field offices in Peshawar, Kohat, Mansehra, and Abbottabad were transferred into 13 different bank accounts. From these accounts, Bilal allegedly withdrew approximately Rs10 billion.
In a key development, co-accused Waheed was arrested. His wife, Atiya Jameel, was the managing director of the company, while Waheed himself served as deputy director.
Authorities informed the court that suspicious transactions worth Rs230 million were detected in Waheed’s bank accounts, and a luxury vehicle was recovered from his possession at the time of arrest.
The court was further told that NAB had already frozen the assets of the main accused, Bilal Hassan, while efforts were underway to arrest absconding suspect Atiya Jameel.
