Court issues charge-sheet against accused in illegal KPT appointments case

Suspects plead not guilty, court adjourns hearing till Nov 19

KARACHI: An accountability court on Saturday indicted the accused in a corruption reference involving the illegal hiring of 940 employees in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) in 2012. As the accused pleaded not guilty, the court summoned the witnesses on the next hearing.

Former ports and shipping minister Babar Ghauri, Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) MPA Javed Hanif, Mehmood Ashraf and five others are nominated in the corruption reference.

Hanif, Farooqui and several other suspects appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty. The court indicted the suspects and adjourned the hearing till November 19. The case of the absconding suspect, Ghauri, will however be dealt with separately.



According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the suspects made illegal appointments that resulted in losses of over Rs2b to the national exchequer.

Non-bailable warrant issued Another accountability court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant of two accused in the Rs23b corruption committed in Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and adjourned the hearing till November 9.

The reference was filed against former PSO managing director Naeem Yahya Mir, former Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources director and eight other suspects including Nazir Ahmed Zaidi, Zulfiqar Ali Jaffery, Akhtar Zameer, Kamran Iftikhar Lari and Amir Abbasi.

The non-bailable arrest warrants were issued for absconders, Mir and Abbasi.

According to NAB prosecutor, Jaffery was arrested in Islamabad while Zaidi was arrested in Gilgit-Baltistan. The suspects misused their authorities in PSO and committed fraud that resulted in losses of over Rs23b to the national exchequer.



Illegal appointments

While hearing a corruption reference of over Rs500m against former Sindh inspector-general (IG) Ghulam Haider Jamali and others, the accountability court directed the defence lawyer to continue cross examination of NAB witness, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Naeem Sheikh, at the next hearing on November 10.

Jamali, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ghulam Nabi Keerio and others were present during the hearing on Saturday.

Jamali's lawyer, Amir Raza Naqvi, began cross examination of Sheikh. The court permitted Naqvi to continue cross-examination at the next hearing on November 10.

According to NAB, the accused made 881 illegal appointments for SRP Hyderabad and embezzled over Rs500m from national treasury.