By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have filed criminal charges against the brother of a former director general of the country’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, accusing him and two associates of orchestrating a land scam that deprived a citizen of his rightful property through forged documents and manipulated records, local media reported on Monday.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s Anti-Corruption Circle registered a first information report this week against Najaf Hameed, a former revenue official known as a Halqa Patwari in the Mouza Pind Parian area, along with Abdul Zahoor, another revenue officer, and Khalid Munir, a private individual from the city of Sargodha. The FIA inquiry exposed what investigators described as a sophisticated scheme to embezzle land value by falsifying ownership certificates and registry entries.
Najaf Hameed is the brother of former Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, who served as head of the Inter-Services Intelligence from 2019 to 2021. The connection to such a high-profile figure has drawn attention to the case, though officials emphasised that the investigation focuses solely on the land fraud allegations and not on any broader political implications.
The inquiry, designated as No. 229/2023, began after a complaint from Mulazim Hussain, a local resident who discovered discrepancies in his property records. According to the investigation, the fraud traces back to late 2009, when the accused allegedly fabricated a property ownership certificate and completed a registry transfer for one kanal of land — a traditional unit equivalent to about one-eighth of an acre.
Official mutation papers, which formalise changes in land ownership under Pakistan’s revenue system, were approved by higher authorities in early 2010. But the documents were later found to be part of an elaborate deception, investigators said. The scheme unravelled in late 2022, when Hussain applied for a new ownership certificate and learned that only ten marlas — half a kanal — were registered in his name, despite his legal acquisition of the full plot.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s probe concluded that the suspects had issued bogus registry and mutation entries to hide the shortfall, effectively pocketing the value of the missing portion through forgery.
“The agency is now moving to secure arrest warrants from the court to initiate formal custodial investigations,” said Afzal Khan Niazi, the deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Circle, confirming the development in a statement.
The charges were filed under several sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including Section 409 for criminal breach of trust by a public servant, Section 420 for cheating, Section 468 for forgery intended to cheat, and Section 471 for using a forged document as genuine. The case also invokes provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which carries severe penalties for public officials involved in graft.
While the first information report names the three primary suspects, Federal Investigation Agency officials said the inquiry remains active and could expand to include any additional administrative officials who may have facilitated the scam. No arrests have been made yet, and representatives for the accused could not immediately be reached for comment.
The case highlights persistent issues of corruption in Pakistan’s land revenue system, where disputes over records and ownership often lead to protracted legal battles and financial losses for ordinary citizens. In the capital region, such frauds have long been a source of grievances, with critics pointing to weak oversight and insider collusion as enabling factors.
Investigators described the deception as calculated, involving active connivance among the revenue officials and the private accomplice. By altering official records, the group not only deprived Hussain of his property rights but also undermined trust in the system’s integrity, according to the inquiry findings.
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