The Benami Zone Islamabad has unearthed a mega benami case and provisionally attached 10,384 kanal benami land situated in District Attock.
Details of the case revealed that Benami Zone Islamabad has provisionally attached 10,384 kanals benami land situated in village Moorat, Tehsil Fateh Jang, and District AttockĀ in continuation of the Anti-Benami drive launched by the Prime Minister.
A formal show-cause notice has been issued to the benamidars, the beneficial owner, and concerned parties. A formal notice for the provisional attachment of land has also been issued to the Deputy Commissioner of Attock to avert any attempts to transfer the land.
Under the provisional attachment order, the benamidar cannot transfer the land to any other person, and after the issuance of a show-cause notice and hearing to the parties, an investigation will be concluded and a reference will be filed before the adjudicating authority by the Initiating Officer who is the Deputy Commissioner from the Inland Revenue Service.
Sources stated that a housing society had purchased land under the name of an individual and had paid money through a cheque. Meanwhile, the land is still held as benami even after the enactment of the benami law. The National Accountability Bureau is also investigating the case on other charges.
According to theĀ available information, the Prime Minister had directed all the revenue authorities of the provinces to provide information/evidence for the suspected benami properties. Consequently, the Deputy Commissioner of Attock forwarded information/evidence on this suspected benami property to Benami Zone-I, Islamabad in September 2019. After a detailed investigation by the zonal authorities through the collection of relevant evidence and the summoning of different parties, and the recording of their statements, a show-cause notice and a provisional attachment order of the suspected benami land measuring 10,384 kanals were issued.
This is the second biggest case of benami property framed by the Benami Zone-Islamabad in terms of land area. Prior to it, Benami Zone-I, IslamabadĀ had filed the biggest case on benami land in Pakistan, involving more than 50,000 kanals, based on the provision of information by the Commissioner of Rawalpindi Division, and also won it from the adjudicating authority. It is currently pending before an appellate tribunal.
So far, Benami Zone-I, Islamabad has attached land of more than 71,000 kanals in different localities and has filed forty-one references on benami assets.
Besides land cases, Benami Zone-Islamabad has also filed fifteen references for luxury vehicles and confiscated a Range Rover in June 2021, which is now the property of the Federal Government of Pakistan. The case has been moved to the Secretary Cabinet to place it before the federal Cabinet for it to make a decision about its disposal under Rule 11 of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Rules, 2019, which is awaited.
