SUKKUR: The Sukkur Accountability court on Monday issued notices to senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi and Sukkur directors general for Jan 17 while admitting an application for more investigations against him into allegations of misuse of powers.

The allegations were contained in a references prepared by the Rawalpindi NAB and pertained to the period during which Mr Shah held the portfolio of minister for labour and manpower. He is accused of using his influence on the board of governors of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) and getting five development schemes rejected without having the authority.

The Rawalpindi NAB has also submitted a 10-point questionnaire in the court seeking replies from Mr Shah. The questions included why the five OPF Housing Society Zone, Islamabad, schemes were rejected; what authority he had to reject the schemes; why did he use his influence on the OPF board of governors to get the schemes rejected; why did he use the office of his ministry to award certain contracts directly to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO); and whether he had consulted the law ministry to take such a step.

Meanwhile, on an application filed by Mr Shah’s counsel Advocate Raza Rabbani and Advocate Mukesh Kumar Karira in the Sindh High Court’s principal seat in Karachi, an earlier NAB reference against him has been transferred to the high court’s Sukkur bench. The hearing has been fixed for Jan 14 (today).

A joint investigation team (JIT) was formed after an approval given by NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal.

The JIT is headed by NAB Multan director general Atiqur Rehman and the other members are Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) member Abdul Hafeez, deputy registrar of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Rizwan Haroon, deputy secretary of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Sajjad Mustafa and NAB deputy director Abdul Hassan Kashaan.

The JIT has started its probe into the allegations contained in certain references against Khursheed Shah.

Mr Shah was arrested on Sept 19 last year in Rawalpindi after an interim reference against him was filed in the Sukkur Accountability Court. His two wives, two sons and two nephews are among the 18 co-accused named in the reference.

Salu VC, son exonerated in NAB reference

The Sukkur Accountability Court on Monday exonerated Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur Vice Chancellor Dr Parveen Shah and her son Adeel Shah from all allegations of corruption levelled in a reference filed against them by the Sukkur NAB.

The reference was prepared on the basis of public complaints and an investigation was conducted over the last two years.

On Monday, the Sukkur Accountability Court Judge Ameer Ali Mahesar took up the matter and exonerated Dr Shah and Adeel Shah for want of evidence.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2020