Report sought on NAB’s inquiry against former chief secretary

Muhammad Siddique Memon is on bail in case related to illegal regularisation of land

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) sought on Thursday a report regarding decision by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on filing a reference against former Sindh chief secretary in a case related to illegal regularisation of six acres of land.

Headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, a two-judge bench directed the NAB special prosecutor to submit a progress report in this regard by February 8.

Muhammad Siddique Memon, former chief secretary, is on interim pre-arrest bail since August 2015 as the federal anti-graft watchdog launched an inquiry against him into alleged illegal allotment and regularisation of a six-acre land for residential and commercial purposes in Sector 52-A Corridor of Scheme 33 in Karachi.

According to Memon's lawyer, NAB had taken cognisance of allotment and regularisation of the land in question to Mohammad Ayub. This allotment was later cancelled. However, it was regularised on Ayub's application on January 2008 by a committee headed by a retired judge of the high court, the lawyer added.



The court was informed that the petitioner had no connection with the original allotment as he was not a member of the lands committee which regularised the aforesaid allotment since he was posted as land utilisation secretary afterwards.

The SHC has directed the NAB prosecutor time and again to submit a progress report into the inquiry. On Thursday, the prosecutor maintained that the inquiry against the petitioner had been completed and relevant documents had been sent to the NAB chairperson to seek his approval for filing a reference against Memon and other co-accused before the concerned accountability court.

The prosecutor informed the bench that the court would be intimated regarding the update in the matter once a report was received from the chairperson's office.

Adjourning the hearing till February 8, the judges directed the prosecutor to submit a progress report on the inquiry’s completion and NAB chief's decision on the summary for filing reference against the petitioner.