KARACHI: An accountability court on Monday indicted 10 accused, including a former deputy commissioner (DC) and three revenue officers and private builders, in a case pertaining to alleged illegal allotment of government land in Karachi.

The National Accountability Bureau booked the former deputy commissioner of Malir Qazi Jan Muhammad, three former Mukhtiarkars of the Scheme-33 — Abdul Lateef, Nazir Amin Maqbool and Muhammad Iqbal Awan — along with owner of the M/s Ghani Builders and Developers Javed Iqbal, his frontman Muhammad Ibrahim, manager Iftikharuddin, his frontman Muhammad Hanif, the owners of the M/s Lalani Housing Facilitator — Amir Ali and Mohammad Ali — Kaleemullah Khaskheli and Irshaduddin Khaskheli in the case.

It claimed that the accused got issued fake allotment orders in the name of a fake goth named Abdullah Shah Ghazi Block F-II in respect of 27 acres of the government land in Sector Numbers 30 and 31 of the Scheme-33 with the connivance of revenue officials.

On Monday, accountability court-II judge Aaliya Latif Unnar indicted 10 detained suspects.

The 10 accused, who were present in court, pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the trial.

The court directed the investigating officer to produce the witnesses to record their testimonies and fixed the matter on June 3.

The court also issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of two absconding suspects — Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Hanif — directing the IO to arrest them and produce them before the court on the next date.

The federal anti-graft watchdog claimed that an inquiry was initiated on complaints of the people affected by an illegal housing scheme named Al-Raheem Villas on the government land in Sectors 31, 32 and 24-A in the Scheme-33 against accused Javed Iqbal and others.

It alleged that the accused caused losses worth Rs2.5 billion to the national exchequer through fake and fabricated entries in respect of 29 acres of the land in Deh Songal, Tappo Gujro and Malir.

It further claimed that the accused cheated 275 persons and recovered Rs179 million from them and disbursed the money among themselves. Therefore, they were found involved in committing corruption, corrupt practices, misuse of official authority and other scheduled offences punishable under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2019