NAB files reference in Gwadar industrial plots corruption
PHOTO: FILE
The national graft-buster -- National Accountability Bureau Balochistan (NAB) -- has filed a reference in an investigation into the illegal allotment of 581 plots by top officials of Gwadar Industrial Estate and Development Authority (GIEDA) for causing huge loss to the national exchequer.
Former Managing Director GIEDA Ahsan Mehboob, General Manager Waqas Ahmed, General Managers Industries Shahid and Nadeem Khosa, and Consultant Muhammad Aslam Shah were nominated in the reference filed in the Accountability Court of Quetta.
The accused violated the rules and regulations and caused irreparable damage to the exchequer through illegal allotment of commercial and industrial plots to their friends, relatives and unrelated persons.
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It was revealed during the investigation that government lands in Gwadar Industrial Estate, which was set up to promote industry and trade in Gwadar, were allotted to people who had nothing to do with industry and trade.
Due to the illegal allotment of the government-owned commercial land allocated for industries and other commercial activities, the industries could not be set up in Gwadar, causing economic loss to the country as well as costing employment opportunities to the locals of Gwadar.
NAB Balochistan has submitted the reference in the accountability court of Quetta in light of evidence against the accused.
It may be mentioned that the National Accountability Bureau of Balochistan had already filed a prior case of massive corruption in the Gwadar Industrial State and Development Authority (GIEDA) against the aforementioned accused.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2021.