KARACHI: The administrative judge of the accountability courts on Tuesday issued summons to 18 suspects allegedly involved in illegal allotment of 731 acres of land to DHA City off the Superhighway through fake entries in the land record.

The judge, Sher Bano Karim, directed them to appear before the court on July 10.

Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference pertaining to alleged illegal allotment of 731 acres of land in Deh Babbar Band, Bula Khan taluka, along the Superhighway.

It had nominated 18 persons, including government employees, builders and other private persons, in the scam.

It claimed that the private persons in connivance with the officials got fake entries made in the land record and got the same allotted to the large housing scheme in 2015 which caused losses to the tune of nearly Rs3 billion.

The NAB deputy director Qamar Abbas Abbasi informed that three suspects had been arrested while others had obtained pre-arrest bail.

Accepting the reference, the administrative judge issued notices to the detained and other suspects.

Graft case against former bureaucrat

Meanwhile, the accountability court-IV judge, Farid Anwer Qazi, directed the NAB investigating officer to submit a report verifying the reported death of a former bureaucrat Shazer Shamoon in a reference regarding alleged illegal allotment of 530 acres of land.

In January, the court had declared Shazer, a former provincial member board of revenue, a proclaimed offender in the case as the IO declared him absconder in his report.

Mr Shamoon along with Mustafa Jamal, Ubaidullah Panhoor, Abdul Latif Brohi and others was accused of illegally allotting around 530 acres of state land and misusing their authority during the tenure of former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, thus causing losses to the tune of Rs3bn to the national coffers.

During hearing of the case on Tuesday, it was pointed out to the court that Mr Shamoon had passed away in London, where he was under treatment.

The court directed the IO to submit a report, verifying his reported death.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018