SAHIWAL: Anti-Corrupt Establishment (ACE) Special Judge Arif Mahmood Khan confirmed the pre-arrest interim bail of Ahmed Mujtaba, a brother of Bushra Bibi, the wife of Imran Khan, in a corruption scandal related to lease of the state land in Depalpur.

The court had also extended pre-arrest bail of five persons, namely Mumtaz Ahmed, Rana Izhar, Rana Iftikhar and Depalpur Market Committee Chairman Tahir Zahoor and Secretary Tahir Tanveer, till July 30.

Reports said the ACE Okara had registered a corruption case against seven people allegedly involved in illegally leasing out a piece of state land for constructing commercial shops and later occupying the shops through the Market Committee chairman.The case was registered on June 13. It is said the whole package inflicted Rs200m loss to the national exchequer.

The accused were asked to appear before the ACE regional office in Sahiwal on July 6 and then on July 13. Ahmed Mujtaba skipped the first two hearings and his counsel informed the ACE that he was sick.

During an investigation, the ACE proved corruption allegations against five out of seven main accused. It is said that during the investigation, the complainant, Nasir, withdrew all his allegations against Ahmed Mujtaba Manika.

“On these bases, his pre-arrest bail was confirmed by the special judge”, a source from the ACE said.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2022