Rangers get 90-day custody of ex-FCS chief Morai

Karachi

Former chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), Dr Nisar Morai, was handed over to the Rangers for a 90-day preventive detention by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday.

Said to be a close aide of an influential personality of Sindh, Morai was arrested from Islamabad on March 11.

He has been accused of embezzling billions of rupees through the society, facilitating Lyari gangsters besides also being involved in the murder of former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills, Sajjad Hussain, in 1998.

Former President Asif Ali Zardari and former home minister, also a dissident of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, were also among those accused of the murder - they were, however, acquitted in 2003 and 2008 respectively.

The court while endorsing the detention order issued under Section 11-EEEE of the Pakistan Protection Act, ordered to form a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) within 15 days. The Rangers’ law officer alleged that Morai used to collect Rs350 million from the fish harbour on a monthly basis through his ‘network’ and that he had transferred huge sums of money to foreign countries. The amount, the officer further claimed was collected in the name of almost 300 ghost employees of the FCS; almost 50 percent of the staff employed by the FCS existed only on paper, the officer added.

He was also wanted by NAB in money laundering and embezzlement cases. Morai was also accused of transferring money to ‘higher-ups’ on a monthly basis and had transferred around Rs800 million to Canada illegally.

The former chairman’s arrest was said to have been made following disclosures made by the notorious Lyari gangster and chief of the banned Peoples’ Amn Committee (PAC) Uzair Baloch.