KARACHI: National Accountability bureau (NAB) Court directed prosecution to produce witnesses for its defence in a reference filed against Rauf Akhtar Farooqi, ex-chairman for Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Babar Khan Ghori, ex-minister of ports & shipping and others for charges of corruption, corrupt practices and abuse of authority for illegally appointing 940 employees in KPT.
On 13 January 2020, court had called prosecution witnesses, however, counsel for the suspects requested the court for adjournment due to their personal issues.
After the hearing, court adjourned the matter and directed counsel for suspects to come prepare and no adjournment would be granted in next date, court also directed NAB officials to produce their witnesses on next date of hearing,
According to the NAB reference that during the investigation, it was revealed that the above mentioned suspects and others are fully involved in charges of corruption, corrupt practices and abuse of authority for illegally appointing 940 employees in KPT in connivance with Babar Ghauri, the then minister for ports and shipping, he further informed that appointments were made in violation of KPT law, rules and regulations “without advertisement of vacancies, competitive process, age criteria, medical examination of appointees and in violation of basic formalities”.
Investigation officer had submitted that, a large number of those appointed had a criminal record in serious cases such as “terrorism, premeditated murder and robbery” and that the illegal appointments resulted in losses to the national exchequer to the tune of Rs2.8 billion.
Investigation officer further stated that Javad Hanif and Sapraz, ex-director Gwadar port are held in Central Jail, Muhammad Sharif, Muhammad Iqbal and Amir Ali Brohi are on bail and Babar Khan Ghouri and others are still absconders.
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