KARACHI: An accountability court ruled on Wednesday that the provincial director general of the National Accountability Bureau had exceeded his authority by approving a plea bargain application of a capital market company’s head in a corruption reference.

The judge of accountability court-I, Rashida Asad, also directed NAB’s Sindh DG to explain if it was done mistakenly.

NAB had filed a reference against heads of Adam Securities Limited (ASL), Zafar Moti Capital Securities and their unregistered agent Wamiq Yousuf for allegedly receiving millions of rupees from the public in the name of investment but failed to keep their promise.

Bureau’s four officials to be tried by ATC

The investigating officer through an application informed the trial court that a plea bargain application moved by chief executive officer of ASL Abdul Majeed Adam under Section 25-B of the NAB Ordinance, 1999 was accepted by the competent authority on March 13 for Rs25,419,045.

The court was further informed that on the recommendations of the IO and two other senior officials, the DG of NAB, Sindh, approved the plea bargain application and referred it to the trial court for its consent.

The court in its order said: “Since DG NAB has already accorded approval by exceeding his authority, thus this application (plea bargain) becomes redundant. The DG NAB is required to explain if it is done mistakenly or otherwise.”

According to Section 25-B of the NAB Ordinance, the NAB chairman is the competent authority to approve plea bargain applications after taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the cases and on terms and conditions as he may consider necessary.

According to the reference, Wamiq received payments from the victims and issued post-dated cheques as a guarantee, but these cheques were dishonoured by the banks.

The investigations revealed that Wamiq was also carrying out illegal business activities with the connivance and involvement of the ASL and the brokerage house was not only fully aware of the activities of its agent, but also abetted by illegally providing its Karachi Automated Trading System terminal to Wamiq and managed to earn a hefty commission through trading activities of accused Wamiq.

ATC to try four NAB officials

The administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts ruled on Wednesday that a case lodged against four officials of the National Accountability Bureau came within the ambit of the antiterrorism law and it would be tried by an ATC.

The court also threw out a report of police, in which two officials were exonerated, and observed that the crime of kidnapping for ransom was made out against all the four NAB officials.

Initially, deputy director Sarwaich Shaikh, assistant Iqbal Hussain Channa and investigating officers of NAB Muhammad Gul, aka Afridi, and Bilal Anwar were booked on a high court order for allegedly calling district accounts officer (DAO) of Hyderabad Sikandar Ali Abro for questioning in an inquiry, abducting him and demanding ransom in November last year in Defence Housing Authority.

However, IO SP Touqeer Mohammad Naeem came up with the investigation report and claimed that the crime of kidnapping for ransom had not been made out during investigation and replaced the said crime with wrongful confinement to extort property.

The IO further maintained in the report that the offence did not come within the ambit of the ATA and also left out Mohammad Gul and Bilal Anwar for what he described as lack of evidence.

But, public prosecutor Muzzafar Hussain Solangi in his scrutiny note observed that the IO had not charge-sheeted two officials merely on the plea of alibi taken by them, which was the domain of the court, and he tired to encroach upon the court’s jurisdiction.

From perusal of the contents of the FIR and the statements of witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the crimes of kidnapping for ransom and the ATA were made out, the prosecutor added.

He also maintained that prima facie the case was exclusively triable by the ATC, but the Darakhshan SHO did not submit a copy of the FIR in the court.

After hearing arguments from both sides and going through the investigation papers, the administrative judge ruled that it was a case of kidnapping for ransom and would be tried by an ATC, adding that the crime was made out against all the four officials.

The Sindh High Court had to register a case against the officials after DAO Abro moved the court and sought restraining orders against NAB officials who were allegedly harassing him in respect of an inquiry pertaining to embezzlement.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2018