NAB arrests Director KDA, seizes crucial records

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday arrested Director Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Syed Obaid Ahmed, and took important documents into its possession.

The NAB team raided the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) office in Civic Centre in connection with an ongoing inquiry against former KDA director general (DG) Nasir Abbas, according to reports.

Ahmed was arrested on leads gathered by the investigating team after interrogations by Abbas, who is already in NAB’s custody.

Ahmed is prima facie involved in approving amenity plots for illegal use and will soon be produced before an accountability court for physical remand.

Last month, National Accountability Bureau, which the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh Government twice failed to stop from taking action in Sindh, processed a complaint against its local government minister Jam Khan Shoro.

A complaint against Sindh Local Government (LG) Minister Jam Khan Shoro has been taken up by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), according to sources in the NAB’s provincial office.

A letter, dated September 15, by the bureau’s Karachi office to the Sindh Land Utilization Department requested “departmental comments/report along with supporting documents/annexure” with regards to the complaint being processed against the provincial minister.

The complaint against the provincial minister states allegations of Shoro owning a gas station established on public land in addition to operating an illegal TV cable network in Hyderabad, his hometown, in partnership with his brother, Kashif Shoro.

Kashif is also the chairman of the Qasimabad Municipal Committee of Hyderabad.

The NAB letter apprised that the gas station owned by Shoro has been built on government-owned land near Kotri Barrage in Hyderabad which had been reserved for water headworks.

Two days earlier, the Accountability Court handed over four persons to an investigation team of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a 14-day physical remand.

According to details, a team of NAB on Friday arrested a former assistant accounts officer of the Bureau of Curriculum, his two sons and a brother in an alleged case of corruption. The NAB’s spokesperson Rizwan Soomro told that the arrest was made after a raid at the residence of the ex-accounts official Pir Bux Soomro in Hyderabad.

Pir Bux’s sons Mustansar and Muzaffar and his brother Ali, who were all accused in the NAB case were also arrested, the spokesperson said. He informed that the four arrested persons were allegedly involved with former district accounts officer Mushtaq Shaikh in around Rs400 million corruption and embezzlement of public funds.

Few days earlier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested former Director General Karachi Development Authority, Syed Nasir Abbas, here from central prison.

Abbas was shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation in money laundering case, according to reports. Abbas was already arrested and sent to jail on judicial remind in concealing facts about his passports.

On Thursday, local court ordered to give Abbas in the custody of NAB, which pleaded that the accused is wanted in several corruption and money laundering cases.

Last month, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Syed Nasir Abbas, Director General of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), for concealing facts regarding his passports.

An FIR no 320/2017 was registered in FIA AHT Circle, Karachi on the complaint of Azhar Hussain Kalwar, Deputy Assistant Director Regional Passport Office, Karachi.