Court sends reference against ex-IGP back to NAB

KARACHI: Citing lack of jurisdiction, an accountability court has returned a graft reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) Ghulam Haider Jamali and other police officers.

The former Sindh police chief was booked along with former assistant IG (finance) Syed Fida Hussain Shah, former AIG (logistics) Tanveer Ahmed Tahir, former AIG (logistics) Faisal Bashir Memon and 12 others over alleged corruption in the funds of the Sindh police in 2018.

Jamali, along with three other accused, moved an application before Judge Aaliya Latif Unar challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the reference in the wake of the National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022.

The court was requested to either acquit them of the charges or return the case to the anti-corruption watchdog over lack of its jurisdiction.The judge announced her verdict after hearing arguments from both the defence and prosecution sides. She observed that the applicants wanted the court to acquit or discharge them from the case or return the reference to NAB in view of the amended law.

“However, in my humble view, the applicants / accused persons cannot be completely absolved for the alleged offence of misuse of authority as through the current amendments only the jurisdiction of this court has been ousted but the offence committed by the accused persons still remains,” she added.

The judge ruled that the law amendment had rendered the court without jurisdiction to hear the case, and returned the reference to the NAB Karachi director general to file it before the appropriate forum. In 2018, NAB filed a reference against 16 suspects, including Jamali, on the charges of misuse of authority and embezzlement in the funds for feeding charges, repair and maintenance of vehicles and renovation of buildings, causing a loss of Rs158.462 million to the national exchequer.