NAB told to provide missing documents to defence side

An accountability court here on Monday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to provide the documents relating to illegal contracts of Nooriabad plant and money laundering reference against Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and others.

Chief Minister Shah and other accused appeared before Accountability Judge Syed Asghar Ali. The court said that the investigating officer should be called and the details related to the properties of the accused Muhammad Ali should be presented in the court.

On this occasion, the defence counsel said that most of the pages of the reference volume provided to them were missing. The court said that the investigating officer (IO) would also be asked about this. The court summoned the IO and allowed the chief minister to leave.

Also, the defence lawyers requested the court to direct the IO to present the missing documents at the next hearing. The court granted the request and adjourned the hearing till September 14.

Later talking to the media outside the court, Chief Minister Shah said that the IO did not come to the court for the hearing. He added that the reference against him consists of 66 volumes, but four of it had not been provided. He also said that pages were missing in the documents given to the defence side by NAB.

He paid rich tributes to the martyrs and Ghazis on the occasion of Defence of Pakistan Day. He said that he always celebrated the defence day but this time he had to come to the court.

Asked about the coronavirus pandemic, Shah said that the disease was spreading fast but thanks to the provincial government’s decision to impose a weeklong lockdown, cooperation from the people and the implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs), the situation had improved.

The chef minister pointed out that Pakistan had not yet come out of the UK's red list of travel restriction because it was stated that they were not satisfied with the situation and statistics of coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan.

There are very strict protocols in Sindh. We do not hide anything, provide all the details, make decisions within the scope of the NCOC [National Command and Operation Centre],” the chief minister told reporters in response to a question.

He also said that the process of vaccination in Sindh had been expedited. “When the decision of lockdown was taken and educational institutions in Sindh were closed, there was criticism but today even the Punjab and the federal governments have closed the educational institutions.”