Nisar Morai, co-accused sent to prison on judicial remand till 23rd

An accountability court on Wednesday ordered sending former Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) chairman Nisar Morai, former vice chairman Sultan Qamar Siddiqui and six of their 12 accomplices to prison on judicial remand till April 23.

As the eight men charged with committing corruption appeared before the court, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities said the accused had been arrested after the rejection of their protective bail pleas by the Sindh High Court (SHC) a day earlier.

Morai, Siddiqui and 12 others are standing trial over corruption charges. Morai is accused of misusing his authority, embezzling funds, making illegal appointments and awarding fake contracts during 2014-15, causing losses of over Rs343 million to the national exchequer.

He is also allegedly involved in the murder case of former Pakistan Steel Mills chairman Sajjad Hussain, who was gunned down in Defence Housing Authority in 1998. Morai was appointed FCS director in December 2013. Later, he took over as chairman in January 2014 and continued working till June 2015.

The NAB reference accuses him of holding another public office and drawing a salary till May 2015 as a medical officer (BS-18) in the health department. The reference said that Morai allegedly made 343 illegal appointments to the FCS.

The accountability court has issued two non-bailable warrants for the arrest against of two absconding accused, Abdul Mannan and Abus Saeed Khan. The reference was admitted by the administrative judge of accountability courts against 14 former officers of the FCS.

The reference was later transferred to Accountability Court-IV On Tuesday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed the pre-arrest bail pleas of Morai and his co-accused. The petitioners’ counsel said NAB had filed the reference on baseless allegations and the prosecution had failed to produce any sufficient evidence before the trial court. They requested the court to confirm their bail as they were appearing before the trial court.

The NAB prosecutor opposed the pre-arrest and post- arrest bail petitions and submitted that petitioners were involved in corruption and corrupt practices and they were not entitled to any relief from the court of the law as a reference was also pending in an accountability court.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, for the reason to be record later, recalled the pre-arrest bail of Morai, Siddiqui, Shahid Hussain, Imran Afzal, Zulfiqar Ali, Amjad Iqbal, Riaz Ahmed and Abdul Saeed Khan. The court also dismissed the post-arrest bail petitions of Abu Bakar Mariwala and Gul Munir Sheikh. The court, however, accepted the bail application of one accused, Wali Mohammad, on medical ground, but it asked the ministry of interior to place his name on the Exit Control List.