KARACHI, Oct 7: The Regional Accountability Bureau Sindh arrested on Sunday a builder and his associates for their involvement in commission of scheduled offence of corruption and corrupt practices.

According to a RAB press release, the suspects, including Mohammed Hanif, were working as a gang of builders mafia. They fraudulently obtained valuable assets of government/ public, property and valuable land through acts of fraud, abetment, conspiracy and complicity or connivance with public servants.

The modus operandi of the builder mafia was that they obtained valuable government properties on build-operate-transfer or on rent with the connivance of government officials and built residential or commercial projects. Government officials were given heavy bribes to change agreements and announce them as public projects. The major investors were high-ranking govt officials. They built 18 projects including National Press Trust building, Sindh Cooperative Bank, Naz Plaza on M. A. Jinnah Road, Sindh Prudential Bank, Al-Rahman Trade Centre and others.