Key accused, two others remanded in police custody

The Provincial Anti-Corruption Court (PACC) has handed over the custody of key accused Shahzad Riaz and two others to the anti-corruption police till January 19 in the Belarus tractor subsidy fraud case.

Eight accused were produced before the PACC on Tuesday and the court was requested to grant 14-day remand against for interrogation. The court remanded Shahzad Riaz, Abdur Rasheed and Shaukat Hussain in custody till January 19 and sent other five accused to the prison on judicial remand. The court has already cancelled the bail of around 53 accused in this corruption case of more than Rs230m.

It may be mentioned here that in May last year the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had booked Shahzad Riaz, a dealer delivering tractors to growers and agent of Belarus Tractors, and three officials of the agriculture department for allegedly misappropriating subsidy under the scheme from 2009 to 2012.

The counsel for Riaz had alleged that his client was framed in the case at the behest of some highly-influential political figures. Earlier in the same month, Riaz had claimed to be threatened by some people at the behest of the ruling party.

The Sindh Rangers had been holding an inquiry into alleged life threats to the businessman and attempts to deprive him of assets at the behest of the ruling party head in the Sindh province.

Shahzad Riaz, in a complaint filed with the DG Rangers on May 4, 2017, blamed that the head of Omni Group of Companies Anwar Majeed and Khawaja Salman Younis had been trying to take control of his business, the Belarus Tractors in Pakistan, for the last two years.

He alleged that Majeed and Salman were front men of the then president and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari. He further alleged that on June 12, 2015 his son Zain Shahzad and office worker Muhammad Ahsan were kidnapped on the orders of these influential persons in order to pressurise him to hand his business over to them. Riaz said his son and office worker were released after intervention by the then DG Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar.

It may be mentioned here that on May 2 the Sindh High Court (SHC) had reserved its decision on the ownership of Belarus Tractors. The parties to the case are M/s Shahzad Tractor Link of Shahzad Riaz and Mtw Pak Assembling Industries Limited of Anwar Majeed.

Riaz also blamed Usman Ghani, a director of the Sindh Anti-Corruption Department, for pressurising him and raiding his house in Karachi allegedly at the behest of Anwar Majeed and the ruling party head.

Usman Ghani had, however, denied the charges, saying it was not in his knowledge that a complaint had been filed with the Rangers against some high-profile personalities and him. He however had admitted that a complaint had been received against some officers of the the Sindh Agriculture Department and businessman Shahzad Riaz for alleged corruption of Rs1.45 billion in the tractor subsidy scheme.

He had told that after initial inquiry and obtaining all legal procedures, an FIR was registered against Shahzad Riaz and three directors of the Sindh Agriculture Department. Farhatullah Babar, as spokesman to Asif Ali Zardari, had stated that Zardari was not aware of any the person and even about the matter.

Later on, the Sindh government announced having detected ‘massive corruption’ in its tractor subsidy scheme in the provincial agriculture ministry. A handout issued by the provincial information ministry clearly added that an inquiry into the matter revealed that a suspect, Shahzad Riaz, the chief executive officer of M/s Shahzad Trade Link, agent of Belarus Tractors, worked as a dealer to deliver tractors to growers and “emerged successful [contractor] under subsidised tractors scheme, from 2009 to 2012.”