ISLAMABAD: The accountability court of Islamabad has approved plea bargain of Bahria Town’s director Zain Malik for over Rs9 billion plea with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal chaired a meeting to review the performance of NAB Rawalpindi office attended NAB Deputy Chairman Hussain Asghar, Prosecutor General for Accountability (PGA) Syed Asghar Haider, DG (operations) Zahir Shah and other senior officers.
NAB Rawalpindi Director General Irfan Naeem Mangi said the accountability court has approved the plea bargain in six references worth more than Rs9 billion, which is the highest plea bargains in the history of NAB.
Mangi informed the meeting that the accountability court had approved a plea bargain by accused Zain Malik of Rs9.05bn in six references filed by the Rawalpindi bureau office.
The anti-corruption watchdog has recovered Rs2.1bn in a case titled ‘State versus Hussain Lawai and others’ transferred from Banking Court in Karachi regarding the fake bank accounts case.
The bureau has recovered Rs1.563bn in a case against Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed and others, the chairman of Omni Group who is also accused in the fake bank accounts case. Rs2 billion was recovered in a case against former Director-General Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Manzoor Qadir Kaka.
NAB has received Rs31.794 million under a deal in a case against Mushtaq Ahmed and Zain Malik in fake bank accounts case in a case of transaction worth Rs8.3 billion.
Rs170 million was recovered in a case of fake bank accounts scams against Zardari Group and Opal-225. The case relates to kickback worth Rs1.22 billion. The final reference involving the sum of Rs4.95bn was received in a case against Zain Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed in fake bank accounts.
The meeting was further informed that the accountability court also accepted Rs 1.95 billion plea bargain request of accused Mian Waseem alias Lucky Ali. The court convicted accused Matiur Rehman in the Modaraba case with 12 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs170 million while declaring accused Atiq-ur-Rehman a proclaimed offender.
In a separate Modaraba scam, the court awarded a 10-year sentence to Ghulam Rasool Ayubi along with a fine of Rs3.7bn. Ayubi had been found guilty and all charges against co-accused namely Hussain Ahmad and M Khalid were proved.
In another Modaraba case, the accountability court awarded 10-year imprisonment and Rs9bn fine to Fayazi Group of Industries CEO Mufti Ehsan-ul-Haq, while Rs1 billion fine was imposed on nine co-accused in the reference filed by NAB Rawalpindi.
Mangi said former SBCA DG Manzoor Kaka had illegally allotted 506 acres of Pakistan Steel land out of which the documents of 300 acres had been returned to the Sindh government.
NAB chairman lauded the work of the regional office and said the eradication of corruption is the top priority of the bureau.
He directed pursuing proactively corruption cases in accountability courts as per law and take necessary measures to arrest corrupt elements, proclaimed offenders and absconders in order to get looted money from them and deposit it in the national exchequer.
