SHC extends interim bail of accused in illegal land allotment case

Notices issued to NAB over transfer of corruption inquiry in Roshan Sindh project

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court extended on Wednesday the interim bails of seven accused, including Iftikhar Qaimkhani, Muhammad Dawood and Mumtaz Haider, till August 5 in the reference against former city nazim Mustafa Kamal and others.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi heard the bail pleas of the seven accused.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor informed the bench that the reference has been submitted before the trial court.



The court extended the interim bails of the accused till August 5.

According to NAB, former city nazim Mustafa Kamal, Sindh Building Control Authority DG Iftikhar Qaimkhani , Fazalur Rehman, Mumtaz Haider, Nazir Zardari and others have been accused of illegally allotting 5,500 square yards of land. The national watchdog maintained that the land was allotted to hawkers and shopkeepers on lease in 1980. All of the land was acquired by DJ Builders in 2005 on lease and Mustafa Kamal allowed the builders to construct a high rise building on it, claims NAB.

Roshan Sindh project

The same bench sought a reply from the NAB prosecutor on August 6 on the plea filed against the transfer of the inquiry, pertaining to corruption worth billions of rupees in the solar lights project, 'Roshan Sindh', to Rawalpindi.

The petitioner's counsel, Advocate Naeem Iqbal, maintained that NAB had carried out the inquiry thrice. "Why was the inquiry transferred to Rawalpindi when it had been carried out twice?" he asked. The counsel argued that the NAB chairperson doesn't have the authority to transfer the case from Karachi to Rawalpindi. NAB has clubbed together this inquiry with the fake accounts case, he said, adding that the accused were receiving phone calls from NAB Rawalpindi.



The court extended the bail of the accused and sought the NAB prosecutor's reply on August 6.

According to NAB, solar street lights were to be installed in the entire province under the 'Roshan Sindh' project at a cost of Rs4 billion but complaints pertaining to large scale corruption in the project have been received. Besides, says NAB, civil engineers were appointed to supervise the project related to electricity.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2019.