KARACHI: An accountability court on Friday supplied copies of documentary evidence to eight suspects in an over Rs84 million graft case.

The National Accountability Bureau booked Abdul Rasheed Khan, the personal secretary to the then Sindh local government secretary, Mohammad Javaid Qamar, an alleged frontman of a former district administrator, Mohammad Anwar Kumbhar, the ex-director of the District Municipal Corporation Malir, Ramzan Solangi, Syed Gulab Khan, Iqbal Hussain and Mohammad Arif in a corruption reference.

On Friday, the court while providing copies of the documentary evidence to the suspects fixed Nov 8 as the next date of hearing.

The court is likely to indict them on the next date.

The investigating officer stated that an inquiry was initiated and converted into an investigation against ex-administrator of Orangi Town Qamaruddin Sheikh and others regarding their alleged involvement in availing illegal pecuniary gains through corruption and corrupt practices.

The investigation revealed that Sheikh, currently a senior director (Land Record) of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, unlawfully and fraudulently got appointed as assistant land management officer in BPS-16 in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation without applying against any published post, it added.

It further revealed that Sheikh also manipulated his date of birth to enhance the period of his service by nine years with the help and collusion of then employees of Nadra — Mohammad Ilyas Arain (supervisor) and As­ghar Ali Bhutto (operator).

It claimed that the suspect Gulab Khan, the alleged frontman of Sheikh, illegally obtained a contract of supplying 178 fumigation machines worth Rs26.70m, causing a loss of Rs19.58m to the national exchequer.

The federal anti-graft watchdog further mentioned that the suspect Hussain helped Khan in getting other contracts without an open competitive bidding, causing losses worth Rs118.058m, it added.

It claimed that suspect Qamar in connivance with Qamaruddin got illegally elevated from BPS-11 to BPS-18 without recommendation of a properly constituted departmental promotion committee and without seeking approval from the competent authority.

He caused losses to the tune of Rs46.664m to the national coffers through phony and bogus invoices, it mentioned.

NAB officials’ recovered unexplained cash, including Rs18.391m, Saudi Riyals 300, Dirhams 2,610 and $500 from his residence, the report stated, adding that Qamar also received illegal gains of Rs750,000 per month for himself and his boss, the (then) LG secretary.

The report stated that Rs33,257,250, Saudi Riyals 45,938, $800, 10 tolas of gold and other orna­ments were also recovered from the residence of suspect Solangi.

Besides receiving a monthly bribe, Solangi also allegedly kept on withdrawing corruption proceeds from the funds of the DMC West on fake invoices/bills in the name of M/s South Electric and Electronics, causing losses to the national exchequer, the report mentioned. It added that Solangi’s case regarding assets was to be dealt with separately.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2018