Accomplice in FCS corruption case dies in jail ahead of NAB’s hearing

KARACHI: Karachi Fishermen Cooperative's employee Shahid Siddiqui, who was arrested along with former chairperson Nisar Morai on grounds of a corruption reference, died on Thursday ahead of National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) hearing.

Siddiqui, finance manager at Karachi Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), was arrested few weeks before the NAB’s accountability hearing on Thursday in which  FCS staff was also summoned.

According to DIG Nasir Aftab, Siddiqui was held captive in the Central Jail along with former chairperson Nisar Morai where on the urgency of a cardiac attack Siddiqui was rushed to Agha Khan, to which, the hospital staff insisted that he be admitted.

Siddiqui, a resident of Baldia Town, refused to get admitted in the private hospital due to high charges and was taken back to the jail instead of being admitted to a government hospital.

Siddiqui succumbed to another heart stroke on Thursday, hours prior to NAB’s hearing and was allegedly declared dead by in-jail hospital authorities.

The prison’s authorities stated that the body was being shifted to Jinnah hospital after the magistrate’s legal trial.

Siddiqui, along with other FCS employees were arrested for facilitating former chairperson Nisar Morai in the corruption.

Earlier this year, an accountability court had indicted two former chairmen of the Fishermen Cooperative Society among 14 officials and private contractors on May 30  in a case pertaining to Rs343 million corruption in the society in 2014-15.

They were charged for misusing their authority, embezzlement of funds, illegal appointments and awarding fake contracts during 2014-15, causing a loss of over Rs343 million to the national exchequer.