Neither Any Minister Nor Any PM’s Aide Involved In Rawalpindi Ring Road, Says Fawad Chaudhary

The Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting says an initial investigation by the Rawalpindi commissioner revealed the involvement of a former Rawalpindi commissioner and other officers in the scam.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-May 18^th, 2021) Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that neither any minister nor any prime minister’s aide in the Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project scam had been found yet.

Fawad Chaudhary said an initial investigation by the Rawalpindi commissioner revealed the involvement of a former Rawalpindi commissioner and other officers in the scam.

He expressed these words in a series of tweets a day after Zulfi Bukhari stepped as the special assistant to the prime minister over allegations of being one of the direct beneficiaries of the realignment of the PRR project.

Fawad Chaudhary, however, said that there was no involvement of any minister or prime minister’s aide had been found yet.

According to the report, some officials of Rawalpindi division were involved in the scam and some housing societies were benefitted when the alignment of the road was changed.

Zulfi Bukhari was accused of giving benefits to his relatives including Tauqeer Shah, former principal staff officer to ex-CM Shehbaz Sharif, in acquisition of their land in Sangjani.

Fawad Chaudhary said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was informed that the ring road was increased to 23 kilometres to benefit a housing society and consequently, the government had to release funds worth Rs 20 billion to buy additional land.

Earlier, as the matter surfaced, the chief minister and the commissioner were asked to investigate it.

Fawad Chaudhary said that it was only in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s regime that investigations were launched against political leaders from the government when allegations were levelled against them.

He claimed that this was not the case when the PPP and PML-N were in the government.

In a tweet, Fawad Chaudhary said: “It is the change. The government officials should have the fear of accountability [and] not even the most powerful are above the law,”. He also said: “The prime minister’s policy on accountability is clear. All citizens are equal in the eyes of the law,”.

It may also be mentioned here that Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar have also been accused of benefitting from the realignment of the RRR project.

However, Sarwar rejected giving benefit to a private housing society while offering to quit politics if corruption charges against him in the mega scandal are proved. The federal minister for aviation told a presser on Monday that he would take up the matter in the federal cabinet meeting on Tuesday (today).