An accountability court is likely to announce its verdict on an application moved by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seeking the arrest of former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Memon in an investigation pertaining to making assets beyond income.
NAB on Friday sought a no-objection certificate from the accountability court – I judge to interrogate Pakistan Peoples Party leader Memon, who is currently in jail in judicial custody. The said investigation was approved against him earlier this year.
A person, Izhar Hussain, who is said to be a ‘front man’ of the former minister, has already been arrested in connection with the investigation. According to NAB, Hussain colluded with Memon to purchase properties from illegal income.
Arguing in support of the application, the prosecutor asked the judge to approve the request so that the suspect could be moved from jail to the NAB headquarters to be
interrogated. He added that the investigators had collected sufficient evidence against the suspect.
The defence lawyer opposed the plea and argued that according to the law, his client could not be arrested and moved somewhere else. He said NAB should first tell the court what evidence had been collected and if required, his client should be interrogated inside the jail.
The judge asked both the sides to continue their arguments on Saturday (today) after which the court would decide on the matter. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Memon had declared assets, here and abroad, worth Rs160 million that are in his and his wife’s names.
Memon is already facing a trial over the embezzlement of public funds to the tune of Rs5.76 billion. He is accused of misusing his authority as the information minister and illegally awarding advertisement contracts to different newspapers, channels and agencies at exorbitant rates.
Inquiry into utility stores
The National Accountability Bureau’s Karachi chapter has recommended an inquiry against the Pakistan Utility Stores Corporation over embezzlement charges. A spokesman for NAB said the inquiry had been recommended over alleged embezzlement of millions of rupees in accounts and store inventories.
The decision was taken at a regional board meeting held under the chairmanship of the NAB Karachi director general for their alleged embezzlement of millions of rupees in their accounts and store inventories.
A special internal audit of sore accounts of Utility Stores Corporation Karachi South was conducted for a period from July 2010 to March 2018, which revealed embezzlement of Rs110 million from various stores. Further investigations are underway.
Ex-SBBHS chief’s bail plea
The Sindh High Court issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and others on a petition filed by a former chief of the low-cost Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Housing Scheme (SBBHS) seeking bail and the suspension of the sentence he had been handed down in a corruption case.
Manzar Abbas along with six other people were sentenced to five years in prison for misappropriating about Rs240 million from the funds of the Sindh government-funded housing scheme. Abbas was arrested by NAB in 2015 following the filing of a corruption reference against officials of the scheme.
According to the reference, the officials had misappropriated over Rs365 million of funds for the scheme, which was to be launched in six districts of the province. The prosecution alleged that that the accused had issued fake calculations for the issuance of illegal cheques to M/s Fiza Social Welfare Organisation — which was engaged in building 2,400 cheap houses — against which funds were illegally released and misappropriated.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client had been incarcerated for the last four years, and requested the court to grant him bail and suspend the sentence. After the preliminary hearing of the plea, the court issued notices to the NAB prosecutor and others and called their comments on July 5.
Ex-KPT secretary
The SHC issued a notice to NAB on a bail application filed by a former secretary of the Karachi Port Trust in a corruption reference. Gulab Khan was booked in the corruption reference pertaining to illegal allotment of public land.
According to the bureau, the petitioner along with others was involved in illegally allotting public land against rules and regulations, thus causing losses to the tune of Rs110 million to the exchequer.
Bureau restrained
The court restrained NAB from taking any coercive action against Pakistan Peoples Party leader Ali Ghulam Nizamani till further orders. Nizamani had approached the court following approval for the initiation of an inquiry by the NAB executive board meeting.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that NAB’s executive board had approved the
initiation of an inquiry against the petitioner and expressed apprehension about his arrest. He sought protection and details of cases and inquiry pending against him. The court issued a notice to NAB and directed it to file details of the inquiry pending against the petitioner at the next hearing.