HYDERABAD: An Accountability Court in Hyderabad on Thursday granted post-arrest bail to several incarcerated officials of the Sindh irrigation department and private contractors implicated in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) corruption probe involving the alleged embezzlement of over Rs4.8 billion in the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II (RBOD-II) project.
The order was passed on Aug 11and issued on Thursday by the incharge judge of Accountability Court-I, Abdul Waheed Shaikh, applying the rule of consistency across two separate NAB references (2/2021 and 3/2021).
Those granted bail include former superintending engineer Waqar Ahmed Qadri, former executive engineer Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, assistant executive engineers Mohammad Aslam Qureshi and Khan Mohammad Channa, contractors Hasnain Ali Mughal and Imtiaz Qureshi, divisional accounts officer Ali Rehbar, junior clerk Furqan Memon and clerk Tanveer Ahmed Lakho.
The court admitted the accused to post-arrest bail subject to furnishing surety bonds ranging between Rs1 million and Rs10 million, depending on their alleged degree of involvement. The applicants were represented by defence counsels Ishrat Ali Lohar, Adeeb Hyder Buriro and Mohammad Nawaz Panjotha.
During the proceedings, the defence counsels pressed the bail applications primarily on the grounds of hardship, statutory delay and the rule of consistency. They argued that the Sindh High Court (SHC) Hyderabad circuit bench had already granted bail on May 20, 2026, to co-accused facing identical allegations, including Faheem Soomro, Asif Ali Birhamani, Nazar Ali Jatoi, Waqar Hussain Soomro, Niaz Gondal, Syed Bhooral Shah and Syed Karar Raza.
NAB Special Prosecutor Ghous Bux Kaheri opposed the bail pleas, contending that the irrigation officials and lower staff, in collusion with private contractors, had received illegal proceeds of crime under the guise of emergent flood-fighting works. He maintained that sufficient incriminating material was available on record to connect the applicants with the commission of the offence.
However, the judge observed in his orders for both references that the applicants had successfully established a case for post-arrest bail under the rule of consistency, as key co-accused with similar charges had already been released on bail by the high court.
Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2026
