HYDERABAD: The incharge judge of the Accountability Court reserved the verdict on the bail applications of four primary accused in a Rs4.48 billion embezzlement reference involving the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II (RBOD-II) project, the other day.

Special Judge (Anti-Corruption Central) Ms. Naseem Akhtar, serving as the incharge judge for the vacant Accountability Court post, is scheduled to announce the decision on April 17.

The bail pleas were filed on behalf of Waqar Qadri, former superintending engineer (SE); Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, former executive engineer (XEN), and Izhar Soomro & Imtiaz Ahmed Qureshi, contractors.

The prosecution alleges that the accused orchestrated a massive fraud by processing bogus bills for “flood fighting” and “emergency works” that were never executed. According to the Investigating Officer (IO), former SE Waqar Qadri alone is accused of misusing his authority to the tune of Rs3.52 billion by approving bills without following any bidding process.

Furthermore, the IO stated that the XEN of RBOD Division-I misappropriated Rs691.6 million by approving payments for liabilities that did not exist.

Defense counsel Ishrat Lohar argued that his clients have been incarcerated since Feb 8, 2025, and should be released based on the “rule of consistency”.

He highlighted that 18 out of 37 total accused in the case — including officials and contractors — have already been granted bail by various courts, including the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court.

The trial faces significant delays, with 148 witnesses yet to be fully processed, he said.

The primary grounds for bail are statutory delay and hardship, given the length of detention relative to the progress of the trial, he added.

The inquiry dates back to financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19, where officials allegedly colluded with contractors to siphon funds through fabricated damages reports.

The case was originally registered as two separate FIRs by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in Thatta and Jamshoro. However, the matter was later transferred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which filed two references (2/21 and 3/21). These references were eventually clubbed together for trial in the Accountability Court.

The Accountability Court in Hyderabad has been without a permanent judge since September of last year.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2026