KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday dismissed the bail applications of a former secretary of the land utilisation department and two others in a corruption reference.

Former secretary Ghulam Mustafa Phull, who was serving as Shaheed Benazirabad commissioner until his arrest, along with other accused has been facing trial before an accountability court for their alleged involvement in illegal conversion of 70 acres of industrial land to residential/commercial purpose in Korangi in 2011.

He was arrested in June after the Supreme Court dismissed his pre-arrest bail.

Two brothers, Abdul Aziz Dawood and Abu Bakar Dawood, the alleged beneficiaries, through their lawyers moved bail applications.

After hearing arguments from both sides, a two-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro dismissed the bail applications.

The bench in its order observed that the trial of the reference was at an advanced stage as according to the National Accountability Bureau’s prosecutor all the witnesses had been examined apart from the investigating officer.

The order stated they were hopeful that the trial court would decide the matter within a reasonable amount of time.

Referring to a contention of a counsel, it said that as per the evidence of an official of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, who is a prosecution witness in the reference, the firms in question were registered in the names of both the brothers while they had also admitted the ownership of the firms in a number of civil lawsuits pending before the SHC.

Earlier, representing the former secretary, Advocate Shaukat Hayat argued that no loss was caused to the national exchequer due to the conversion in question and there was also no case of misuse of authority since the applicant had cancelled the conversion as soon as he realised his error.

Appearing on behalf of other two applicants, senior counsel Rasheed A. Razvi argued that NAB did not produce any record that the applicants were still the directors of the firms in question.

He contended that the applicants were not associated with these companies since 1994.

According to the NAB reference filed last year, the Dawood brothers — the directors of dairy, cattle and fish firms — had obtained around 70 acres of land in different pieces for industrial purposes and got it regularised in 2006.

However, NAB alleged that on their request the then land utilisation secretary had misused his authority and illegally converted the status of the land from industrial to residential without the approval of the competent authority in Aug 2011.

Although the then secretary had cancelled the conversion in question in 2015, the benefit was availed as the construction of residential buildings was started after the alleged unauthorised conversion which dramatically increased the value of the land and later they also obtained a stay order from the SHC against the cancellation, it added.

The SHC had dismissed the pre-arrest bail applications of the three applicants in May. The Dawood brothers were arrested while the former secretary had fled the SHC premises and later approached the apex court.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2018