Two remanded in small industries plot scam

karachi : Of a dozen plots that were meant to be specifically used for building small and cottage industries in Sindh, seven have been transformed into petrol and CNG stations, two rented out to mobile companies to install telecommunication towers, and as many converted into a medicine company, while the status of one of them is not confirmed.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told this to the accountability courts administrative judge while presenting two suspects, Fazal-e-Qadir and Shah Zahid Qadri, before him to seek their remand in a corruption reference involving former provincial minister for trade and industries Adil Siddiqui and directors of the Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSIC).

The anti-graft watchdog’s investigation officer told the judge that Qadir was allotted the plots 26 and 27 in the Industrial Park Karachi and Qadri was allotted plot B-68 in the Industrial Park Larkana but they, with the connivance of the minster and SSIC officials, got their statuses illegally changed to commercial. Qadir established a petrol/CNG pump on his plot, while Qadri rented his plot out to a telecommunication company.

According to the reference, employees of the SSIC had complained to NAB in October 2015 against the corporation’s management for making illegal appointments and causing misappropriation of funds. During the course of inquiry, the plots scam was also substantiated and it was found that 12 plots – three in Karachi, four in Hyderabad/Mirpurkhas, as many in Larkana and one in Sukkur – had been illegally used.

The reference says that the industrial parks were established to promote and develop the small and cottage industry and the plots in there were divided into two categories. Industrial plots were allotted on a first come, first served basis while commercial plots were allotted through an auction. It was mentioned in the procedure that the plots shall not be used for any purpose other than running specific industry for which they had been leased.

However, in contradiction to the SSIC Act and the procedure for the allotment of the plots, industrial plots were illegally converted into commercial ones just to benefit the individuals as commercial plots generate more revenue than industrial plots. The anti-graft watchdog maintained that by making such conversions, the SSIC officials benefitted the individual allottees and caused them to earn illegal gains.

NAB added that it had been established that the accused with the connivance of each other violated the purpose of allotment and misused their authority to favour individuals and provide them illegal gains for Rs203,039,070 and they committed the offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under the section 9(a)(iii)(vi) punishable under the section 10 of the National Accountability Ordinance.

Besides Qadir and Qadri, NAB has named Siddiqui, SSIC’s former managing directors Mehmood Ahmed and Ghulam Nabi Mahar, former director administration Aijaz Akhtar Memon, former Hyderabad regional directors Muhammad Rafique and Syed Imdad Ali Shah, former Larkana regional directors Ghulam Nabi Kalhoro, Syed Khadim Hussain and Umer Bux Soomro, private persons Saleem Zakaria, Muhammad Nazim, Saleem Hanif, Irfan Alam, Sajan Mal, Liaquat Ali Shaikh and Tarique Hussain Magsi among the suspects.

The judge approved the two suspects’ physical remand in the custody of NAB till July 3 and sought a progress report from the investigation officer on the next hearing. Meanwhile, arrest warrants were also issued for the rest of the suspects.

NAB had raided the residence of Siddiqui in Karachi recently but found that he had been living outside the country for some years. He served as the Sindh minister for labour, transport, commerce and industries between 2002 and 2007 when his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was part of the Sindh government.