Former Malir DC arrested for ‘land fraud’

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi on Thursday arrested a former Malir deputy commissioner (DC) over charges of misappropriation.

A spokesperson for the anti-corruption watchdog said a NAB team arrested the former Malir DC, Kazi Jan Muhammad, as he was wanted in an investigation regarding illegal disposal of government land in Scheme 33 in Karachi.

Misusing his authority, the former DC allegedly issued allotment orders of a fake goth, named Abdullah Shah Gazi Block F-II, in connivance with other revenue officials, the spokesperson said.

The value of the land in question is approximately Rs2.5 billion. The former Malir DC has also been named in several other cases being pursued by NAB. The bureau will produce him before an accountability court for physical remand. Further investigations are under way.

Performance report NAB Karachi has also issued its performance report highlighting its achievements during 2018. The bureau claimed in the report that it received 10,311 complaints in 2018 and disposed of over 10,000 complaints, the largest number in a year since its inception.

Explaining the operational methodology at the bureau, NAB Karachi said any complaint at the bureau passes through the phases of complaint verification, inquiry, investigation and reference and the whole process completes within the set period of 10 months, while extensions are only granted by a competent authority in complex cases.

NAB Karachi claimed that under the dynamic vision and leadership of NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, it had geared up its operations and performed effectively due to which it had gained confidence of public at large.

It was claimed in the statement that of 564 pending complaint verifications during 2018, NAB Karachi completed 315. Similarly, 104 of a total 387 pending inquiries and 41 of a total 189 investigations were completed and 46 references filed with accountability courts.

NAB Karachi also secured conviction in 33 cases, in which convicts were sentenced to imprisonment or they were declared convicted after they availed plea bargain.

Over Rs518 million was recovered by NAB Karachi through plea bargain in 2018, said the performance report. Disbursements of the recovered amount among departments and individuals, who had been defrauded, is under way.

NAB Karachi also recovered over 10,000 acres of state land worth approximately Rs50 billion in Jamshoro district. In terms of arrests, the anti-corruption watchdog apprehended 160 suspects. A large number of arrests made by NAB have boosted the confidence of complainants, including individuals, overseas Pakistanis or organisations, in the bureau.

Following directives of NAB Karachi Director General Brig (retd) Farooq Naser Awan, the bureau has been holding public hearings on the last Thursday of every month to listen to people’s grievances