KARACHI: The Sindh High Court granted on Friday bail to the former chairman of the Benazir Housing Cell (BHC) and two others in a corruption case.

The National Acco­untability Bureau (NAB) had arrested the then chairman of the BHC Manzar Abbas along with some other officials and private persons in 2015 and filed a corruption reference against them before an accountability court for their alleged involvement in misappropriation of over Rs365 million funds for the low-cost housing scheme in Sindh.

The former BHC chief along with two others through their counsel moved applications and NAB prosecutor opposed the bail.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the two-judge bench of SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro granted bail against a surety bond of Rs5m each.

NAB contended that the then chairman of the BHC along with others had allegedly misappropriated Rs367.5m of the cell’s funds.

The prosecution further said the accused had issued fake calculation for the issuance of illegal cheques to M/s Fiza Social Welfare Organisation against which funds were illegally released and misappropriated.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2018