LARP ex-officer bail plea

The SHC directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit comments on a bail plea of the Lines Area Redevelopment Project’s (LARP) former project director, who was arrested on charges of involvement in “China-cutting” of precious plots in Lines Area.

Fareed Ahmed Yousufani was held for his alleged involvement in bifurcation, amalgamation and allotment of precious auction plots in LARP through “China-cutting”, which caused losses of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

According to the anti-graft watchdog, Yousufani bypassed the commercial plots auction, which was mandatory as per the law, and allotted the land by cutting it up into small pieces and sold them to builders and land grabbers at throwaway prices in return for huge bribes and commissions, causing a loss of Rs363.2 million to the national exchequer.

The petitioner’s counsel said his client had been incarcerated for the past two years despite no direct allegation levelled against him. He sought bail for the accused, following which the court directed NAB’s counsel to file the watchdog’s comments on the petition in the next hearing.