PPP MPA disqualified, gets five-year jail term

KARACHI: An Accountability Court on Thursday disqualified PPP member of the Sindh Assembly Syed Ali Nawaz Shah for 10 years and also sentenced him to a 10-year jail term for his involvement in a fraud case.
The court convicted Shah along with his two relatives who had committed a revenue fraud of around Rs5 million.
His cousin Syed Khadim, who also served as federal population minister in 1988, and a nephew Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah were sentenced to four and three-year jail terms respectively.
The reference filed in 2001 said Ali Nawaz Shah and others sold some land to the government at inflated prices and later claimed the land as their own.
Ali Nawaz, who was first elected as a member of the Sindh Assembly in 1977, also served as a federal minister for industries in 1989. He has been elected a senator and an MPA three times since then.
The three convicts were involved in forging the Land Revenue Department’s record.
A spokesman for Shah, however, claimed that he had nothing to do with the fraud and instead it was committed by some local revenue officials.
He also claimed that close relatives of Shah had not committed any fraud.
The spokesman said the verdict would be challenged in an appellate court (the Sindh High Court).