Skip to main content

Accountability court convicts 7 for misappropriation of funds in Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Housing Scheme case

An accountability court in Karachi on Wednesday convicted seven former government officials and private individuals, including the former chairman of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Housing Scheme (SBBHS), over misappropriating approximately Rs240 million from the funds of the Sindh government-funded low-cost housing scheme.

The convicts — which include the chairman of the Benazir Housing Cell (BHC) at the time, Manzar Abbas, as well as past BHC deputy directors and others — were found guilty of misusing their official authority, corruption and corrupt practices.

Abbas was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in 2015 along with other officials and citizens. The accountability bureau had filed a corruption reference against them alleging that they had misappropriated over Rs365 million of funds for SBBHS, which was to be launched in six districts of Sindh.

The prosecution claimed that the accused had issued fake calculations for the issuance of illegal cheques to M/s Fiza Social Welfare Organisation — which was engaged in building 2,400 cheap houses — against which funds were illegally released and misappropriated.

Accountability Court-IV's Justice Fareed Anwar Qazi today pronounced the verdict, which had been reserved earlier after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

Judge Qazi awarded the main accused, Abbas, and four others a sentence of five years of imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs15 million on each of them.

The judge also sentenced two of the other convicts with two-years imprisonment and ordered them to pay Rs6m each.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2IG8ewY
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more