Corruption charges : NAB arrests former Sindh transport secretary

Action taken after court’s suspension of Iqbal Bablani’s pre-arrest bail

KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested former transport secretary Iqbal Bablani on Monday over corruption charges after the Sindh High Court suspended the interim pre-arrest bail granted to him earlier.

Headed by Justice Ahmed M Sheikh, the division bench recalled and suspended the former secretary’s interim bail in a corruption reference filed by the NAB. The secretary had approached the high court seeking bail in connection with the NAB reference regarding alleged award of contracts in violation of laws.

The bureau had filed a reference against Bablani alleging he was involved in corruption in awarding contracts during his tenure as secretary of the provincial transport department causing losses worth millions to the national exchequer.

On the other hand, the ex-secretary had denied the allegations. He had pleaded the court grant him bail. At the last hearing on May 16, the bench had reserved its verdict on the bail plea after hearing arguments from Bablani’s lawyer and the NAB prosecutor.

During Monday’s proceedings, the bench, however, dismissed the bail plea following which the former bureaucrat was arrested.

Five-year-old complaint

Bablani was the transport secretary in the previous provincial government but was terminated over reported differences with then transport minister Akhtar Jadoon in 2011.

Jadoon had written a complaint to the then Sindh chief secretary in April 2011 alleging that Bablani had ‘blocked’ millions of rupees and was not cooperating with him. He had requested the secretary’s removal after which the chief secretary formed a team to look into the matter.

The main allegation against Bablani was that he had misappropriated hefty amounts from bus terminals being established across Sindh. There were also allegations that he had misappropriated funds from the accounts of the defunct Sindh Road Transport Corporation and the Karachi Transport Corporation.

A NAB spokesperson confirmed his arrest, saying that further investigation is under way.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2016.