NICL scam: Accountability court indicts PPP’s Amin Fahim, 10 others

Ex-commerce secretary Zafar Mahmood to testify on Sept 30

KARACHI: An accountability court Saturday framed charges against senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader Amin Fahim and 10 others, including top bureaucrats, in a graft case pertaining to the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam.

The NAB court-III in Karachi indicted Fahim along with former commerce secretary Salman Ghani, NICL’s former chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi and officers Amin Qasim Dada, Muhammad Zahoor, Syed Hur Gardezi and Navid Hussain Zaidi, and others.

Fahim and Ghani were indicted in absentia. The PPP leader is currently seeking medical assistance in London.

The suspects have been accused of causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer by purchasing a property in the name of the NICL at inflated rates.

According to the prosecution, a 10-acre plot in Korangi Deh Phihai was purchased in August 2009, during Fahim’s tenure as trade minister, for Rs90 million per acre against its actual market value of Rs20 million, causing a loss of Rs700 million.

The inquiry was launched in late 2010 after the then commerce secretary Zafar Mahmood reported several land scams to the Federal Investigation Agency. The cases were later transferred to the National Accountability Bureau. The charge sheet names more than 70 witnesses. Mahmood has been summoned by the court for his statement on September 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2015.