KARACHI: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Director General Dr. Najaf Quli Mirza distributed cheques for Rs373.688 million amongst various state functionaries at a ceremony at the NAB Karachi office.
The recoveries were made by the NAB Karachi, led by tireless efforts of Director General Dr. Najaf Quli Mirza, from corrupt elements through plea bargain under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. The cheques were distributed amongst officials of the government of Sindh, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology (FUUAST) Karachi, Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), Karachi, Bureau of Curriculum & Extension Wing (BOC&EW) Sindh at Jamshoro and affectees of Jason Beach View Housing Project, Karachi.
An amount of Rs. 280.349 million was handed over to the representative of the office of the Sindh chief secretary. Another cheque for Rs 1.318 million was handed over to the representative of FUUAST. The recovery had been made in an under trial reference titled “The State V/s Dr Zafar Iqbal & Others” filed by the NAB Karachi in which accused Muhammad Naeem Akhtar, Assistant Executive Engineer, voluntarily admitted his guilt of embezzlement in university funds and opted for plea bargain which was approved by an accountability court.
A cheque for Rs 3.9517 million was handed over to the representative of SRB, Karachi. The recovery was made by the NAB Karachi in an ongoing investigation against officials of the Culture, Tourism & Antiquities Department of Sindh, advertisement agencies and others on the allegations of misappropriation of funds in awarding contracts of the Sindh Festival 2014.
In the investigation, 10 contractors and beneficiaries have entered into plea bargain u/s 25(b) of NAO, 1999 and surrendered illegal gains amounting to over Rs145 million so far. The recovered amount includes sales tax on services recovered from accused Syed Ahsan Muntazim, Umer Sharif Rajput and Syed Masroor Ali. The ill-gotten money was returned to the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB)
A cheque for Rs12.9079 million was handed over to the representative of the Bureau of Curriculum & Extension Wing (BOC & EW) Sindh at Jamshoro. The recovery was made in an under trial titled “The State V/s Peer Bux Samoon and others” filed by the NAB Karachi in which accused Syed Khadim Hussain Shah, Assistant Accounts Officer, Bureau of Curriculum & Extension Wing (BOC & EW) Sindh at Jamshoro voluntarily admitted his guilt of embezzlement of funds and opted for plea bargain which was approved by an accountability court. The ill-gotten money was returned to the Bureau of Curriculum & Extension Wing (BOC&EW) Sindh at Jamshoro. Besides, 45 cheques for Rs 75.161 million were handed over to the affectees of the Jason Beach View Project. The recovery was made in an under trial titled “The State V/s Mian Abdul Jabbar & others” filed by the NAB Karachi on the allegation of cheating public at large in which accused Mian Abdul Jabbar and Mian Abdul Samad had voluntarily admitted their guilt and opted for plea bargain which was approved by an accountability court. Dr. Najaf Quli Mirza thanked the participants and reiterated his commitment to recover looted money from corrupt elements. He reaffirmed the NAB’s commitment against corruption and corrupt practices and said that the NAB Karachi was performing its responsibilities on merit with utmost dedication and professionalism for a prosperous and corruption-free Pakistan, under the vision of NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.
In 2021, working under its Director General Dr. Najaf Quli Mirza, the NAB Karachi recovered approximately Rs1.401 billion and 53 accused were convicted under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.