Fateh Group sold coal worth Rs2 billion instead of setting-up power generation plant; contract to group was given by secretary of ex-CM
KARACHI: A Pandora’s box was opened when NAB recently took up the Lakhra Coalmine corruption scandal.
Three names have been exposed in the corruption scandal involving more than Rs2 billion. One of them – Gauharullah – has already been arrested; Sohail Akbar Shah is on bail, while a notice has been issued to former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah.
According to NAB, the contractor firm Fatehullah Group sold coal from the mine worth Rs2 billion but did not erect a power house. The contract of the Lakhra Coalmine was acquired by the Fateh Group, a company of Gauharullah. NAB alleges that the company sold Rs2 billion coal.
The contract was given by Sohail Akbar Shah to Gauharullah on verbal orders of Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah. Sohail Akbar Shah was the principal secretary of Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah.
According to NAB, the contract of Lakhra Coalmine was given illegally in the year 2009-10. The lease of the Lakhra Coalmine was given for the purpose of erecting a 200 megawatt power house. Sohail Akbar Shah has obtained interim bail from the Sindh High Court, while NAB has approached the Sindh High Court against the interim bail.
Sohail Akbar Shah, the former principal secretary to Qaim Ali Shah, says he had only forwarded verbal orders of the chief minister and added that NAB has leveled the allegation only for not obtaining written orders from the chief minister. Sohail Akbar Shah said he used to receive hundreds of verbal orders every day.
The third character of corruption in Lakhra Coalmine scandal Gauharullah has already been arrested by NAB last Saturday from a hotel in Karachi. Gauharullah is also the president of Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.