Court hears illegal land allotment case against Mandviwalla

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday heard a corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla and others over alleged illegal allotment of government land for plots in Overseas Cooperative Housing Society, Kidney Hills, Karachi.
Saleem Mandviwalla appeared before the accountability court during the hearing. Barrister Qasim Abbasi submitted power of attorney in the court to represent Mandviwalla and former managing director (MD) of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Aijaz Haroon.
Barrister Abbasi apprised the court that the accused Aijaz Haroon had been granted bail by the high court in the case.
The judge questioned NAB prosecutor whether it is a full reference or a supplementary reference would also be filed. To this, the prosecutor responded that it is the central reference; however, a supplementary reference will be filed if needed.
The judge remarked that the court will provide a timeframe of two weeks for concluding the investigation and filing the supplementary reference on the next hearing.
The accountability court also directed the provision of the copies of the corruption reference among the accused. Later, the hearing was adjourned till February 18.
While talking to the media outside the court, Mandviwalla said that he appeared before the accountability court after being summoned. He claimed that it was a private transaction with the agreement of both parties. Such references would affect businesses in the country, he added. Mandviwalla further said that the high court had also declared it a private transaction in its ruling for granting bail to Aijaz Haroon.
To a question, he said that the final decision for the upcoming Senate elections through open ballot will be made in the Parliament.
The NAB filed a reference against Senate deputy chairman in an illegal land allotments case on January 13. The anti-graft watchdog in its reference stated the accused sold government plots to Abdul Ghani Majeed – son of Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed.
According to NAB, Senate deputy chairman had purchased fake shares in the name of his frontman by selling the plots. The national graft buster had also submitted a report to the court which stated that former PIA managing director Aijaz Haroon had also played a key role in selling illegal plots to Abdul Ghani Majeed.
The NAB had nominated Saleem Mandviwalla, Aijaz Haroon, Abdul Ghani Majeed and Tariq Mehmood as offenders in the reference.