NAB Karachi approves various corruption cases for investigation

Recommendations sent to NAB chairperson to authorise investigations against corrupt officers

KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi approved on Friday various corruption cases for further investigations.

The cases were approved at a regional board meeting presided over by NAB Karachi Director-General Mohammad Altaf Bawany. According to a NAB spokesperson, the meeting was attended by the directors of three investigation wings and investigating teams of the cases concerned.

According to an official handout, the meeting decided to send a recommendation to the NAB chairperson to authorise four investigations in an inquiry concluded against Sindh government functionaries and others regarding the realignment and construction of the Malir River bund for the purpose of housing societies and illegal allotment of land. According to the inquiry, 307 acres of land was illegally allotted to various beneficiaries in violation of the law through fresh allotments after squeezing the boundaries of the Malir River.

The four investigations recommended in the inquiry pertain to prima facie allegations of misuse of authority allegedly committed by 20 government officers and their front-men. According to preliminary calculations, the illegal land allotments caused a loss of Rs15.7 billion to the national exchequer.



Investigations were also recommended against officers of the Dadu district accounts office and others on charges of embezzlement and misappropriation of pension funds of Dadu district. The inquiry accuses district account officers Ghulam Mustafa Lund and Muhammad Nazir Bhutto and others of corruption and misuse of authority for personal gain, which caused a loss of Rs736 million to the national exchequer.

One of the suspects, Lund, has also benefitted in the past from NAB's voluntary return scheme. He agreed to deposit Rs356 million in the national exchequer.

The meeting also approved a recommendation to authorise investigations against officials of the revenue department and the management of the State Bank of Pakistan Staff Cooperative Housing Society on allegations of misuse of authority for illegal usurpation of government land in Malir.

The NAB chairperson was also recommended to authorise investigations against the management of the Hyderabad Railway Employees Cooperative Housing Society for the illegal allotment of 16 plots that belonged to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.



NAB is committed to initiating corruption cases without discrimination, Bawany said. He added that the federal anti-graft watchdog was effectively working to recover government assets, especially the land which had been usurped.