ISLAMABAD: An accountability court of Islamabad on Wednesday indicted former Senate deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ex-managing director Aijaz Haroon and others in corruption reference. The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

NAB accused them in illegal allotment of plots of Overseas Cooperative Housing Society Limited (OCHSL) (Kidney Hill) case.

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”.

Meanwhile, the former opposition leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah filed an application before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking direction to the Speaker National Assembly for issuance of production order to enable him to join the ongoing debate on next year’s budget.

Shah contended in the petition that the next year’s fiscal budget is being debated in the Parliament and the President Dr Arif Alvi is likely to accord consent on the budget on June 30.

He requested the court to issue direction to the Speaker enabling him to join the debate on federal budget.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2021