NAB approves reference against ex-PID chief

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has approved to file four corruption references while starting three inquiries into cases of alleged graft. The decisions were taken on Thursday at NAB’s executive board meeting, chaired by NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.

One of the references will be filed against the Press Information Department’s (PID) former director general Chaudhry Rasheed Ahmed and others. According to NAB’s statement, the accused illegally tried to withdraw Rs28.5m in connivance with an advertising agency but the attempt was foiled through timely action.

The meeting also approved reference against Bank of Punjab former president Naeemuddin Khan and others. They are accused of insider trading of shares of the bank, which allegedly inflicted Rs10.385 million loss to the exchequer.

The executive board also approved a reference against the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Officers Cooperative Housing Society secretary Gulab Khan and others for illegally allotting public land against the rules and regulations and thus causing loss of Rs110m to the exchequer.

The meeting also approved a corruption reference against the Sindh Building Control Authority (Karachi) former DG Manzoor Qadir and others. They allegedly misused their authority and illegally allotted public land of Karachi’s Nehr-e-Khayyam to M/s Friends Associates, causing Rs3 billion loss.