Key accused in tractor fraud case, two others remanded to prison

Karachi: The Provincial Anti-Corruption Court (PACC) on Friday remanded key accused Shahzad Riaz and two others to the prison in the Belarus tractor subsidy fraud case.

The three accused, including Abdur Rasheed and Shaukat Hussain, had earlier been handed over to the anti-corruption police till January 19 for interrogation.

The investigation officer (IO) at yesterday’s hearing requested the court to let the anti-graft police keep the accused in custody for further interrogation, but the court turned down his request and sent the accused to the prison on judicial remand.

The court also heard the arguments on the bail pleas of Shahzad Riaz and seven other co-accused and later summoned the state attorney for putting forward arguments on February 22.

The court has already rejected the bail pleas of around 50 accused involved in this corruption case. As many as eight accused are being tried before the PACC 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.