KPT corruption case: SHC rejects bail pleas of MQM-P MPA, others

Court also maintains death sentence of a convict, who kidnapped and murdered a seven-year-old

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday rejected the bail pleas of Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) MPA Javed Hanif, Rauf Akhtar Farooqi, Mahmood Sharif and Haji Muhammad, who are accused in a case of corruption and illegal recruitments in Karachi Port Trust (KPT). A two-member bench headed by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro, however, granted bail to co-accused Ameer Ali Brohi and Muhammad Iqbal.

The counsel for Hanif said he was arrested two days after he got the party ticket for election, which was a violation of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) policy. He said that NAB chairperson had earlier declared that election candidate would not be arrested.

The NAB prosecutor pleaded for rejecting the bail plea of the accused and informed the court that Hanif was accused of illegal appointments of 940 employees by misusing authority, which were made in KPT, allegedly in connivance with former ports and shipping minister Babar Ghauri.



However, the MQM-P labeled it "an attempt to influence elections". The NAB, however, denied the allegations and said that it did not pursue any political agenda.

According to NAB, the appointments were made in violation of KPT law, rules and regulations. Moreover, they were made without advertisement of vacancies, competitive process, age criteria, and medical examination of appointees and in violation of basic formalities.

The bureau said that a large number of those appointed had criminal records and were nominated in cases of "terrorism, premeditated murder and robbery". The illegal appointments resulted in losses to the national exchequer to the tune of Rs2.8 billion.

Death sentence maintained

The SHC rejected the appeals filed against the death sentence to Jalal Ahmed and life imprisonment of Muhammad Munir, accused in cases of kidnapping and murder. A two-member bench comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice KK Agha heard the plea. According to police, the accused kidnapped seven-year-old Sameer from the jurisdiction of Gabol Town Police Station in 2012. They took him to Thatta and demanded a ransom of Rs50,000 and killed the minor over non-payment. The body was found from Gadani on the basis of information provided by the accused after his arrest. An anti-terrorism court had earlier awarded the sentences to the accused.

Extension granted

The SHC gave on Friday more time to the Sindh government to file a detailed reply in a case against Local Government (Amendment) Act 2015. A two-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the petition filed by a citizen against the Act.

Sindh additional advocate-general stated that some amendments were being made to the local government laws. He sought time for its completion. The petitioner's lawyer said that allowing dual-citizenship holders to take part in local bodies elections was illegal. However, the Sindh Assembly by amending the Act had eliminated this condition by removing Clause 36.



The petitioner said that lifting the ban on dual citizenship was contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. There was a ban on dual citizenship holders to take part in municipal elections but after the passing of the Amendment, they were allowed to take part in municipal elections.

CNG price hike

A two-member bench of SHC adjourned the hearing of pleas against the current increase in CNG prices at the request of the defence lawyer till December 18.

Petitioner's lawyer argued that while the federal government has the authority to give guidelines regarding CNG prices, it cannot restrict Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) from increasing them. The court ordered other parties to continue arguments at the next hearing. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2018.