Former KMC director, two bank employees sent to jail

Case transferred to special banking court, IO ordered to submit charge sheet today.

KARACHI: A former director of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and two officials of Allied Bank Limited (ABL), who are facing charges of misappropriation of KMC funds, have been sent to jail by the district and sessions court. The investigation officer has been directed to submit a charge sheet against them on June 13 (today).

After the remand period expired on Thursday, the court transferred the case to a special banking court and directed the officer to submit the charge sheet against the former KMC finance director, Nasir Mehmood Ishaqui, the then branch manager and operations manager of ABL in Hassan Square Branch, Azhar Ali Khawaja and Saeed Ahmed Qazi, in the court.

Meanwhile, the suspects were sent to jail on judicial custody remand by the judicial magistrate in district East, Mohammad Yousuf Malik.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested the suspects on charges of fraud, forgery, criminal breach of trust, embezzlement and misappropriation of KMC funds invested with ABL on May 30.

According to the FIA, the defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK) now KMC has regularly been maintaining accounts with NBP, HBL, UBL and ABL banks for decades. These include savings from funds pertaining to employees’ pension, provident fund, welfare fund as well as savings from the public funds. A major chunk of such funds and savings were also invested with the Civic Centre and Hassan Square branches of the ABL. The KMC official, in collusion with bank officials, had fraudulently withdrawn over Rs1.5 billion without any lawful and legal authorisation from the officers of the KMC.

A case was registered against the accused on a complaint of the KMC commissioner at the FIA Commercial Bank Circle, Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2014.