Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lt Gen (rtd) Nazir Ahmed Butt, announced the discovery of corruption amounting to Rs. 3 trillion in Karachi, linked to falsified documents for 7,500 acres of property in the city. Speaking at a meeting with the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) on Monday, he warned that addressing these issues could lead to significant upheaval.

The NAB chief criticized the Lyari Development Authority (LDA), Karachi Development Authority (KDA), and Malir Development Authority (MDA) for their decades-long failure to hand over possession to rightful allottees.

ABAD’s chief, Muhammad Hassan Bakhshi, highlighted the construction of 85,000 illegal buildings in Karachi over the past five years, accusing the Sindh government of selling land to select individuals instead of conducting fair auctions. In response, the NAB chairman called for evidence to decide whether these buildings should be demolished or regularized.

In the past eight months, NAB has recovered 1.8 million acres of agricultural land in Sindh, valued at Rs. 4 trillion, and returned it to the Revenue Department. Butt acknowledged the absence of a centralized land record system in Sindh and pledged to address this issue.

Additionally, NAB plans to establish a regional office in Gwadar, where land scams worth Rs. 3 trillion are currently under investigation.

ABAD’s Patron-in-Chief, Mohsin Sheikhani, proposed that all land transactions be verified by NAB and advocated for third-party digitization of land records. He emphasized that corrupt institutions are manipulating records for their benefit and should be held accountable.