ISLAMABAD: An accountability court here on Thursday indicted Omni Group director Abdul Ghani Majid as well as 16 other accused persons in ‘Pink Residency’ reference.

In another reference related to Sindh Bank’s loans, the accountability court declared Younis Kudwavi, a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari, a proclaimed offe­nder.

Accountability court judge Azam Khan read out charges against Majid, Mohammad Ali Kaloot, Syed Mohammad Ali Shah, Mumtaz Ali, Ali Gul and others. Accused Sohail Memon and Mehtab Ali joined the court proceedings through a video link.

The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty and preferred to face the trial.

Subsequently, the judge summoned evidence from the prosecution of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The court would record statement of the prosecution witness on Oct 16.

NAB had filed the ‘Pink Residency’ reference against a close aide to Mr Zardari, as well as other senior serving and retired officers of the Sindh Board of Revenue. The accused persons include Aftab Memon, a former secretary of the Sindh Land Utilisation Department, Omni Group’s Majeed and seven others.

The reference alleged that the accused persons had illegally regularised two plots of 23 acres and seven acres, causing a loss of Rs4 billion to the national exchequer.

The accountability court declared Kudwavi a proclaimed offender.

The prosecution informed the court that the process of proclamation had been completed and the computerised national identity card (CNIC) of the absconding accused had also been blocked.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2020