Rs2.86b reference: Non-bailable warrants issued for Rauf Akhtar Farooqi

Court directs accused to be arrested and presented in court on Jan 7

KARACHI: An accountability court issued non-bailable warrants for former Karachi administrator, Rauf Akhter Farooqi, in the corruption reference of Rs2.86 billion, which also involves Babar Ghauri and others. The court issued non-bailable arrest warrants after the Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected his bail.

The SHC had rejected the bail plea of Farooqi and ordered to declare Ghauri and three others in the case absconders. The accountability court directed to arrest Farooqi and present him in court on January 7. Ghauri and eight other accused had been nominated in the reference. According to NAB, the accused were responsible for 940 illegal recruitments in Karachi Port Trust in 2012. The accused caused a loss of Rs2.86b to the national exchequer.

Police Fund corruption

An accountability court sought further arguments from defence lawyers on the next hearing on January 8 in another corruption reference of billions of rupees in Sindh Police Funds.

The former Sindh inspector-general Ghulam Hyder Jamali, former additional Inspector-General (AIG) Tanvir Ahmed Tahir, and other accused appeared in court. The defence lawyers argued that the indictment should be deferred. According to NAB, the accused caused a loss of more than Rs150 million to the national exchequer. The interim bails of the former AIG along with nine other accused have been accepted. They were accused of embezzling money from the police fund in the name of maintenance of police cars. They gave contracts without tenders. The court adjourned the hearing till January 8 for more arguments. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2018.