NAB in action: Excise secretary, anti-corruption director granted bail

The officials are being investigated for embezzlement in the minorities' affairs department

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) granted on Thursday bail to the excise secretary and the anti-corruption department director, who were in jail on remand in a case of corrupt practices in appointments in the minorities' affairs department.

A division bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, ordered the release of secretary Badar Jamil Mandhro and director Khadim Hussain Channa from the jail against a surety of Rs1 million each. Both had approached the high court for post-arrest bail.

The petitioners submitted that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had taken them into custody on June 4 regarding an inquiry into the alleged illegal appointments dating back to their posting in the provincial minorities' affairs department.

NAB authorities alleged that Mandhro was posted as secretary and Channa as director in the minorities' affairs department when the process for appointments of the assistant executive engineers and assistant directors in BS-17 and BS-18 was initiated in July, 2012.

The departmental selection committee, of which Mandhro was the chairperson and Channa was a member, selected and appointed ineligible candidates for the posts in violation of the law, as they were relatives of the politicians.

Mandhro argued that he was being victimised since he had taken action against officials and officers in various departments of the Sindh government during his posting as director of the enquiries and anti-corruption department.

Channa also argued that the allegations against him were false, as he had no role in the commission of the offence alleged by the NAB authorities. The petitioners pleaded the court grant them post-arrest bail, giving assurances that they will continue cooperating with the investigators and will not abscond from the trial court.

The two judges granted them post-arrest bail in sum of Rs1 million each with directions to cooperate with the investigators during the investigation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2015.