Court orders NAB to file reference against accused involved in illegal allotment of land

NAB has nominated former provincial minister Jam Khan Shoro, 13 others in the reference

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday to file a reference against former provincial minister Jam Khan Shoro and others accused of obtaining assets through illegal means and illegal allotment of land.

Besides Shoro, the NAB has nominated 13 others in the reference, including Shoro's frontman Muhammad Bachal, Asghar Memon, Muhammad Hussain, Imtiaz Ali, Shahnawaz Soomro, Fida Hussain, Subhan Ali, Abdul Malik Khatri, Muhammad Anwar Zeeshan Qureshi and Akhtar Ali.

The accountability watchdog informed a two-member bench of SHC, comprising Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh and Justice Omar Sial, that the reference prepared against the accused has been sent to NAB headquarters in Islamabad for approval.

According to NAB, Shoro and the other accused are allegedly involved in the allotment of a piece of land for a compressed natural gas filling station in Hyderabad, which caused a loss to the national treasury. The NAB officials said that evidence pertaining to the illegal allotment of land has been acquired.

The court has ordered NAB officials to file a reference against Shoro and others, and submit a report thereafter.

Illegal land allotments ‘being looked into’

An inquiry against Shoro is underway in Karachi.

Plea rejected

Meanwhile, another two-member bench, comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, rejected a plea challenging the sentence awarded to a man convicted of extortion and possessing illegal weapons.

However, announcing the verdict on the plea, the court commuted the 13-year jail term, meted out to Kamran Khan, to five years of imprisonment. The court commuted the sentence, giving Khan the benefit of doubt.

According to police, Khan had demanded extortion money, amounting to Rs100,000, from a trader, Fazal-e-Rabbi, and an anti-terrorism court had meted out 13-year jail term to Khan after finding him guilty of the offence.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2019.