Hearing of graft case against former IGP Jamali, others adjourned till June 19

An accountability court hearing the corruption reference against former Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) Ghulam Haider Jamali and others has set June 19 as the next date of hearing.

On Friday, the court partly recorded the statement of DIG Establishment Naim Shaikh, a prosecution witness, and ordered that the remaining statement would be recorded on June 19.

Jamali and others are accused of misappropriating more than Rs500 million by making hundreds of illegal appointments in the police department.

In Friday’s hearing, the court took notice of Jamali’s absence. His attorney said that the former IGP had obtained bail from the Supreme Court of Pakistan. However, rejecting the defense lawyer’s stance, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor said neither NAB nor the trial court was aware of any such apex court orders.

The prosecutor prayed to the court to issue an arrest warrant against Jamali as he had failed to submit any bail orders before the court.

The trial court previously had issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against Jamali and others. However, on May 8, Jamali had fled away from the court premises after the Sindh High Court cancelled his pre-arrest bail in the illegal recruitments case.

The court had also cancelled the bail of former superintendent of police (SP) Ghulam Nabi Kherio and four other police officers. NAB, which filed a reference in the case last year, has submitted that the accused are responsible for the illegal hiring of 881 people in the Sindh Reserve Police in Hyderabad in 2013-14.

According to the graft watchdog, the recruitments against 881 vacancies were made for the posts of constables and computer operators, among others, which caused a loss of more than Rs500 million to the national exchequer.

Jamali and his companions are also facing charges of misappropriation of a huge sum of money which was released for a CNG station and was transferred into the account of a head constable Muhammad Rafique through a cheque.

Separately, an accountability court hearing a corruption reference against former officials of Lands Utilisation Department, Ghulam Abbas Soomro, Siddiq Memon, Abdul Qadir Memon and others, fixed the next of hearing for June 26. The accused are expected to be indicted then. The court also issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against the absconders.

Siddiq Memon, Abdul Qadir Memon and others are alleged to have caused a loss of more than Rs550 million to the national exchequer. The accused had disposed of six acres of government land against fake allotment letters.

Mother granted custody

Meanwhile, a local court ordered a man to hand over the custody of his child to his Malaysian national wife after she submitted that she had separated from him. Sofia Bin Yousuf told the judge of Family Court (South) that her husband Ghazi Muqabil used to torture her and also failed to take care of her one-year-old child Muhammad Rakeel.

According to Sofia, she had married Muqabil in 2015 and after the marriage she came to know that he was a drug addict. She said she had filed for separation from her husband and prayed to the court to order Muqabil to hand over their son to her. The court then issued the order.

Meanwhile, an accountability court extended the period of physical remand against Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Sports and Culture Director Saif Abbas and his accomplice Shoaib Memon, till June 4.

In a corruption reference field by NAB, the two have been alleged to have disposed of 265 acres of state-owned land illegally. The land, that was allegedly sold illegally, was located in Bhains Colony, Deh Gangiaro and had been earmarked for an industrial unit.

Abbas was arrested from his office on May 15, while Shoaib Memon (arrested earlier this month) was already under detention. Abbas had been working as an activist of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Following MQM’s split, he had joined the Farooq Sattar-led MQM-P PIB Colony faction.

Jail visit

The District and Sessions Judge (Malir) along with the judges of the subordinate courts concerned paid a visit to the Malir Jail and heard the complaints of under-trial prisoners there.

The prisoners complained that the prison staff demanded money from them and tortured inmates when they refused. A prisoner alleged that a jail staffer had demanded Rs30,000 and when he failed to arrange the money, he was severely tortured and kept in solitary conferment. The prisoner threatened to commit suicide, saying the government of Sindh would be responsible for his death in that case.

The Sessions Judge (Malir) took notice of the complaints and directed the SHO of Shah Latif police station to lodge cases against the corrupt staffers and submit a report in this regard.