An accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday indicted PPP leader and former Senate deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla and other suspects in the Kidney Hills plots allotment reference.
The hearing was conducted by Judge Muhammad Bashir. Mandviwalla, former PIA MD Aijaz Haroon, Abdul Ghani Majeed and other accused were provided with copies of the charge sheet against them.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Waseem Javed and investigation officer Muddasir Hussain also appeared before the court.
After the accused pleaded not guilty, the court summoned two witnesses of NAB, Nisar Magsi and Sheikh Jamal, to record their statements on July 13.
According to the NAB reference, Mandviwalla is alleged to have facilitated Haroon in selling government plots to Omni Group’s Abdul Ghani Majeed.
Haroon received huge sums of money from fake accounts in exchange for the plots.
He prepared backdated files of the plots and then Mandviwalla assisted him in selling them to Abdul Ghani Majeed.
NAB has alleged that Mandviwalla and Haroon received Rs140 million through fake accounts.
From his share, Mandviwalla first bought a plot in the name of ‘benami’ [frontman] person. Later he sold the plot and bought shares in the name of another frontman.
From that money, according to the reference, Saleem Mandviwalla and Nadeem Mandviwalla bought shares in Mangla View Company in the name of Tariq Mahmood.
In addition, a meeting of the NAB Executive Board had also approved the filing of a reference against former Sindh minister Jam Khan Shoro, and inquiries against several Sindh government officials, including Owais Muzaffar Tappi and Sohail Anwar Sial.
The board meeting at the NAB headquarters, chaired by NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal and attended by Deputy Chairman Hussain Asghar, and other senior officers, also approved two more references.
In one reference, Jam Khan Shoro and several government officials from Hyderabad are accused of illegally occupying government land in Jamshoro, Qasimabad, Sindh and using it for personal use, causing a loss of about Rs5 billion to the national exchequer.Last month, the court had rejected Mandviwalla, Haroon and Abdul Ghani’s pleas for acquittal before indictment
It observed that decision on Mandviwalla’s plea for permanent exemption from appearance will be taken after indicting him.
Speaking to the media in February, Mandviwalla had maintained that it was a private transaction.
“If NAB starts looking into people’s private transactions, then it will affect both the country and its economy. NAB hasn’t filed the reference in two years” he said. “Why does it want to do it now?”
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