Hyderabad Accountability Court frowns at Karachi NAB officials

KARACHI: The Accountability Court, Hyderabad, by showing its displeasure on the working of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), has issued contempt of court notices to Director NAB Karachi Muhammad Rafi and Investigation Officer Adnan Hafeez associated with the case of embezzlement of millions of rupees of Hyderabad District Accounts Office.

Notices were issued under section 16-B of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) to both the officers for not submitting the final report despite the lapse of 162 days and filing of undertaking on the last date of hearing on March 10, 2022.

Judge of Accountability Court, Hyderabad, Inamullah Kalhoro, in his order, said that it appears that there is no clarity in the mind of the investigation agency (NAB) as to how the investigation of the case be finalized.

According to the official documents available with The News, on March 22, 2022, Additional Director Haroon Rasheed and Assistant Director Ghulam Abbas, NAB Karachi, appeared before the court and submitted an application under Section 344 Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) praying for extension of time for the filing of the final report as according to them both the officers, the director and IO of the case, were out of station for some official work.

As per the NAB papers regarding the case under proceeding, accused Saifullah Magsi, officer of the Hyderabad District Accounts Office, is in judicial custody and it has surfaced that accused persons, in connivance with each other, committed criminal breach of trust and misused their authority and misappropriated more than Rs3.6 billion. The accused persons committed an organized crime involving government officers, bankers and private individuals and caused a loss to the national exchequer. It has further been submitted that fake refund claims of the Agricultural Engineering Department of Rs300 million sanctioned by accused Saifullah Magsi, Mushtaque Ahmed Shaikh and Allah Bachayo Jatoi (all ex-ADAOs) were recovered; these fake refund bills were deposited in the accounts of the private contractors.

It has further been submitted before the court that subject matter was forwarded to NAB HQ wherein, they authorized the probe relating to the roles of officers of BPS-20 and above. The notices have been issued to accused persons namely Naveed Kamran Baloch, former Secretary Finance, Muhammad Sohail Rajput, former Secretary Finance, Asif Jahangir, former secretary finance, Syed Hassan Naqvi, former Secretary Finance, Ahsan Ali Kehar, former Accountant General, Sindh, Agha Zafarullah, former DG Agriculture Engineering & Water Management (AE&WM), and Imdad Memon, Director, (AE&WM), for determination of their roles and connivance with the accused persons. He has further submitted that the money trail of the payments of above-mentioned vouchers show that the vouchers were deposited in the accounts of dummy companies and further returned to accounts of the Agriculture Department and withdrawn in cash. The investigation further revealed that the Agriculture Department maintained an account in a private bank in Hyderabad and had credit transactions of Rs1.2 billion.

The court in its order described that the advocate of accused Ishrat All Lohar has vehemently opposed the grant of further time and remand; and has prayed that accused Magsi may be discharged under section 63 Cr.P.C as he is in continuous custody for 162 days without any reference.

He has further submitted the grant of further time would be in violation of the law and has prayed for action against IO of the NAB and Director NAB. On March 10, 2022, the IO of the case, Adnan Hafeez Abbasi, and Director Muhammad Rafeh requested for time for filing of final report but no final report was submitted despite the undertaking of both the officers. The matter is being prolonged on one or the other reason and it appears that there is no clarity in the mind of the investigation agency (NAB) as to how investigation of the case be finalized.

The court directed the NAB officers to submit the minutes of the Regional Board Meeting (RBM), copy of draft reference and covering letter sent for the approval to the higher authorities, issued notices under Section 16-B of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) to both the officers with strict directions to submit their reply. The court also asked the Director General (DG), NAB Karachi, and chairman NAB to look into the matter and take necessary action according to the law.