HYDERABAD: The Account­ability Court-II granted bail to four co-accused in the land scam case of Naushahro Feroze section of the M6 (Hyderabad-Sukkur) project on Tuesday. The scam surfaced in November last year.

The then general manager of the National Highway Authority (NHA), Parkash Lohano, recorded his statement as prosecution witness in the land scam case of Matiari section of the M6 project.

Lohano said in the statement submitted to the court that the NHA had transferred a total of Rs4,092,669,833 through two cheques dated June 23, 2020 (Rs1,385,978,282) and May 20, 2021 (Rs2,706,691,551) as the revenue department had demanded funds for the completion of land acquisition process and subsequently the deputy commissioner’s office started the process of notification under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act (LAA), 1894.

He said that commissioner’s office issued notifications under Sections 6 and 17 for Matiari taluka but a similar notification under the same sections was not issued for Hala and Saeedabad talukas in Matiari district.

He said that after the issuance of notifications it was the responsibility of collector to issue notices under Section 9 of the LAA to landowners and acquiring agency for filing of objections and proceed with the next process for announcement of the Award under Section 11 of the LAA but Mansoor Ali Abbasi, then land acquisition officer (LAO), made payments through open cheques in violation of the LAA.

He said that the LAO did not pass the Award under Section 11 and illegally withdrew Rs2.37bn from LAO’s account in Sindh Bank through open/bearer cheques. Abbasi was produced as witness by chief prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Jangu Khan for recording his examination, he said.

Then he was cross-examined by Riazat Sahar, counsel for the then Matiari deputy commissioner Adnan Rasheed.

Sahar pointed out to the prosecution witness during cross-examination that under clause ‘C’ of Section 3 of the LAA when the notification for the appointment of LAO was issued, the LAO became deputy collector.

He told the witness that the NHA had transferred cheques amounting to Rs4bn to Matiari district before the posting of the DC, Adnan Rasheed, on March 28, 2022. The cheques were deposited in bank accounts opened in private banks in years 2020 and 2021, he said, adding that he did not remember exactly the date of posting of the DC.

Abbasi’s counsel said that the LAO had withdrawn the amount from the account, and sought adjournment as he did not turn up for cross-examination.

Ishrat Lohar, who represented area manager the Sindh Bank and co-accused Tabish Shah, had filed bail application for co-accused Zeeshan Sahto whose name was disclosed by Aslam Pirzada.

Pirzada had alleged that he had handed over the money to Zeeshan.

The court had fixed the hearing of Zeeshan’s bail application for Dec 23 and said the main case would be heard on Jan 3, 2024 when more prosecution witnesses would be examined and cross-examined.

The NAB’s investigating officer also sought time for bail application.

The trial court then granted bail to the four co-accused in the land scam case of Naushahro Feroze section of M6 in a sum of Rs0.5m each. They are Rustam Khoso, accountant of Naushahro Feroze DC, Aziz Ansari, PA to former Naushahro Feroze DC, stamp vendor Irfan Khan and Haqqani Sahto.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2023