THATTA: On a directive of the Sindh High Court, a two-member team of the Sindh National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday paid a surprise visit to Shahbandar town municipal office in Chauhar Jamali and recorded statements of sitting and former officers with regard to the alleged misappropriation of Rs400 million funds.

The NAB team, headed by its assistant director Sarmad Abbas and Rahul Roy, inspected the town committee’s records of 2015-16 and recorded statements of six officers.

The records pertained to the funds meant for drains, water tanks, roads, fish market and other development schemes. It was also believed that relevant laws, rules and regulations were violated in awarding contracts of the schemes to favourites of politically influential figures.

Initial inquiry suggested that more than Rs300m was misappropriated during the year 2015 alone.

The team was astonished to ascertain that the procedure of handing over/taking over had never been followed at the time of the start and end of the TMOs’ respective tenures.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019