ISLAMABAD: Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla appeared before the accountability court of Islamabad on Thursday in connection with a plot allotment reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him.

Accountability judge Mohammad Bashir asked the prosecution of NAB to distribute copies of the reference among the accused persons and adjourned proceeding till Feb 18.

Talking to the media, Mr Mandviwalla said the reference against him was based on a private transaction between two private parties. He said none of the party was a complainant but NAB filed the reference.

He claimed that such a reference would be counterproductive for the business environment of the country.

NAB has alleged that former chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) “Aijaz Haroon and Saleem Mandviwalla in connivance with each other embezzled the government land through illegal and fraudulent allotment, and received illegal and unlawful gains of Rs144.2 million from fake bank accounts namely A-One International and Lucky International under the garb of business deal or property transaction with Abdul Ghani Majeed, the chief executive officer of Omni Group.”

It claimed that the purported property/business deal was coordinated by Mr Mandviwalla using his brother Nadeem Hakeem Mandviwalla, sole proprietor of Mandviwalla Builders and Developers, and received Rs64.2m out of the total proceeds of Rs144.2m. The same was misappropriated through the purchase of leasehold of a trust namely Dewar-i-Hadayyah, Karachi, by Mr Mandviwalla.

“Tariq Mehmood is an employee/front man working as a manager of Mandviwalla Builders and Developers and he held around Rs3.1 million shares of M/s Mangla View Resort Private Limited in his name on behalf of accused Saleem Mandviwalla and Nadeem Hakeem Mandviwalla. He is a salaried person and has no financial worth to purchase shares worth Rs30 million,” said NAB.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2021