HYDERABAD: Accountability Court Judge-I Naseem Akhtar on Saturday rejected bail applications of 49 present and former officials of irrigation department, including then project director, superintending engineers, assistant executive engineers, contractors and civilian beneficiaries in a case of Rs4.48 billion corruption in the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II project.

The accused, two of them had since died, were taken into custody and remanded in judicial custody in Nara Prison. They had been on interim pre-arrest bail after they were held around two months back, said National Accountability Bureau’s prosecutor, Jangu Khan.

Khan said the judge pronounced judgement, rejecting bail pleas of all the accused, who included sitting and retired officials as well as beneficiaries.

According to Ishrat Lohar, who represented Abdul Malik Bullo, the then executive engineer of RBOD-II Thatta, signatures of his client were verified on bills, cheques and vouchers on his request, and 80pc of them were found to be forged.

He said that no audit objection, pre or post, was raised by the irrigation department in the budget of the project and it remained silent. One of the counsels for the accused had been elevated to high court, he said.

The then project director (now retired) Munawar Bozdar, then superintending engineer (now retired) Imran Shaikh, then SE, then superintending engineer Waqar Qadri, then assistant executive engineers, some women, contractors and other beneficiaries were sent to jail. The accused also included two deceased.

The reference was filed in 2020 in the accountability court where the case was transferred by Special Judge Anticorruption (provincial). Following a departmental inquiry conducted by then Chief Engineer Zahid Sheikh, two FIRs (4/20& 5/20) were lodged by anticorruption department, revealing an amount of Rs4.482bn in the RBOD-II project. Afterwards, a reference was filed in the accountability court.

The RBOD-II is designed to carry effluent from Sehwan to Gharo in Thatta district. It is to be connected with RBOD-I or Main Nara Valley Drain (MNVD). The drain’s capacity has recently been increased [on paper] from 2,271 cusecs to 3,500 cusecs but physical work remains suspended for past several years.

The RBOD-II is considered a vital project for the revival of Manchhar Lake, a freshwater lake. The 273km-long drain will bypass the lake after being connected with MNVD through Indus link to take 3,500 cusecs of effluent to Gharo creek.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025