18 convicted in land scam case

An accountability court convicted on Wednesday 18 persons, including two former government officers and an administrator of a cooperative society, in a land scam case. The court sentenced the convicts to two to seven years of imprisonment.

The matter pertains to china cutting in Sindh University Employees Cooperative Housing Society (SUECHS), located adjacent to the University of Sindh, Jamshoro district.

The main accused, Barkat Ali Junejo, the former administrator of SUECHS, has been convicted sentenced to seven years in jail and a fine of Rs4.79 million has been imposed on him. Accused Imran Mehdi Memon, the former managing director Sindh Cooperative Housing Authority (SCHA), has been sentenced to five years in jail term and a fine of Rs500,000 has been imposed on him.

Mehdi had granted approval to Junejo for the revised layout plan. However, six months later he withdrew the approval and 'reprimanded' Junejo for misusing his permission.

Asghar Abbass Sheikh, former director general (DG) of the Sehwan Development Authority (SDA), which is Jamshoro district's development arm, has also been convicted and handed a five-years sentence and a fine of Rs500,000. He was also involved in approving the layout plan.

Read Govt told to float new tenders for college canteens

Other 15 convicts are mainly beneficiaries of the plots who purchased those illegally converted properties.

Each of them will suffer rigorous imprisonment of three years. They will also have to pay a fine of Rs200,000 each. The only proven charge against them is that they purchased plots from the main accused Barkat Ali Junejo on the amenity land that was unlawfully converted to residential land.

All the convicts were on bail until pronouncement of the verdict. As per the judgment, they will be arrested and shifted to Nara prison in Hyderabad rural to serve their sentences.

"They shall seize to hold any public office and shall stand disqualified for a period of 10 years to be reckoned from the date they are released after completing their jail term," according to the court order.

The court has cancelled their bail bonds and discharged sureties.

The scam was unearthed in 2013 when a piece of land, kept for a community park, which has been now named as Allan Fakir park after the deceased famous folk singer, was converted to a commercial property. Rehmatullah Loond, a local resident, brought the matter before the press and later filed a complaint with the National Accountability Bureau.

On July 16, 2013, cooperative authority's MD Memon accorded permission to Junejo for revision of the layout plan, allowing conversion of the amenity plots into commercial plots. Later Junejo applied for a similar revision to SDA on October 1, 2013, after which 27 commercial plots were illegally created. As per the registration documents, the plots were valued at Rs4.79 million. However, Junejo collected Rs27.79 million from the beneficiaries out of which only Rs2.052 million were deposited in SUECHS' account.

Junejo in connivance with Memon sub leased four plots on August 26, 2013, in SUECHS phase II. Two of the plots were earmarked for shopping centers and one each for a school and a bank in the original layout. "Junejo received payments [for these plots] from the beneficiaries directly," the accountability court's order reads. A sum of over Rs2 million was deposited in SUECHS' account in JS Bank from May 9, 2013, to September 10, 2013. Junejo fraudulently misappropriated that amount as well.

Loond, while speaking to The Express Tribune after pronouncement of the accountability court's verdict, appeared jubiliant. He, however, said the duration of imprisonment for Junejo is far lower as compared to hundreds of millions of rupees which he had allegedly embezzled from the cooperative society. He recalled that he was pressurized in several ways to withdraw his allegations but he stood firm.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2021.