KARACHI: A provincial anti-corruption court on Saturday rejected the bail application of the main suspect in a case pertaining to alleged corruption of Rs8.5 billion in the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Yellow Line construction.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment had booked the then project director of the Karachi Mobility Project (KMP) Zameer Abbasi, then director of procurement Jhaman Das and others on the basis of an inquiry conducted by the Chief Minister’s Inspection, Enquiries and Implementation Team Department (CMIE&ITD) into alleged financial mismanagement in the Yellow Line project.

Suspect Abbasi, through his counsel Nasrullah Korai and others, filed post-arrest bail application and stated that that he had been arrayed as accused with ulterior motives and allegations were baseless, frivolous and devoid of any credible material connecting him with the commission of any offence.

Special prosecutor Abdul Ghaffar Kalhoro conceded the bail application and raised no objection.

Misappropriation of public funds is also an offence against every taxpayer and honest citizen, judge rules

However, Judge Muhammad Aminullah Siddiqui noted in his order that the prosecutor did not submit any written permission from the office of the prosecutor general or from the chairman, enquiries & anti-corruption in respect of no objection.

It noted that the documentary evidence collected during enquiry/investigation had attributed a specific role to the applicant and provided sufficient reasonable grounds to tentatively connect him with the commissioning of the alleged offences.

The court also observed that if persons entrusted with billions of rupees of public money were enlarged on bail despite prima facie material showing deliberate misuse of authority and unauthorised release of public funds, it was likely to erode public confidence in the accountability process.

“The menace of corruption has assumed alarming proportions in society. Corruption committed by holders of public office is far more destructive than ordinary crime because it silently erodes public confidence in state institutions, deprives citizens of development, weakens the rule of law, and undermines the constitutional principle that all public power must be exercised strictly in accordance with law,” the judge remarked in the order.

The court stated that misappropriation of public funds was not merely an offence against the government but an offence against every taxpayer and every honest citizen.

It also noted that unauthorised release of billions of rupees in violation of contractual terms and financial rules attacked at the very foundation of good governance and accountability.

“Grant of bail in such circumstances may create an unfortunate perception that influential public office holders can violate financial rules, abuse their authority and expose the national exchequer to colossal losses without facing the immediate consequences of law,” the order concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2026