Corruption case: Court extends bail of former steel mills chief

Orders NAB to submit progress report into Rs378m scam by Nov 25

KARACHI: While extending bail granted to the former chairperson of the Pakistan Steel Mills, the Sindh High Court (SHC) directed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigators to apprise the court of the progress of the probe into the Rs378 million corruption scam by November 25.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh, passed this order on a bail plea filed by former chairperson Moin Aftab Sheikh.

Sheikh had approached the high court as the national anti-graft body initiated inquiries into his alleged sale of PSM's different products to private companies at very low rates.

The bureau alleged that the scam caused losses worth Rs378 million to the national exchequer.

It has named the former chairperson, along with 65 others, including steel mills officials and private persons, as accused in the case.

On Wednesday, the NAB prosecutor insisted that they had sufficient evidence available with them regarding Sheikh's involvement in the scam, adding that a corruption reference against the accused persons has also been filed with the national accountability court.

The official pleaded to the court to dismiss the petitioner's bail plea.

The bench, however, directed the prosecutor to submit a report regarding the investigation's progress by November 25. Till then, it extended the bail granted to the petitioner.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2016.