The court issued notices to the prosecution and the investigation officer (IO) of the case for July 11.Also, the judge sent the main suspect, Zameer Abbasi to prison on judicial remand.
The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Sindh had booked the then project director of the Karachi Mobility Project (KMP), Abbasi, then director of procurement Jhaman Das and others following an inquiry conducted by the Chief Minister’s Inspection, Enquiries and Implementation Team Department (CMIE&ITD) into alleged financial mismanagement in the KMP related to the Yellow Line.
At the end of his last physical remand, the IO, Inspector Sher Zaman brought Abbasi, a grade-19 officer of the Sindh government, before the court and submitted that the probe had been completed.
A member of the combined investigation team (CIT) of the ACE also turned up and submitted that unsafe payments were made without any bank guarantees.
Therefore, the court sent the suspect to jail on judicial remand till July 13 and directed the jail authorities to produce him through video link at the next hearing.
Highlighting the rampant institutional graft and endemic financial decay embedded within Pakistan's state infrastructure, the prime suspect implicated in a massive PKR 8.5 billion corruption scandal hitting the Karachi Mobility Project's (KMP) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Yellow Line has moved a provincial anti-corruption court seeking post-arrest bail, Dawn reported.
Exposing the deep-seated rot within Sindh's administrative machinery, the court issued formal notices to both the prosecution and the case investigation officer (IO), scheduling the matter for July 11.
Alongside him, the probe also named the then director of procurement, Jhaman Das, and several others. The action followed a damning inquiry by the Chief Minister's Inspection, Enquiries and Implementation Team Department (CMIE&ITD) into pervasive financial mismanagement surrounding the strategic transport project, Dawn reported.
The deeply compromised nature of public procurement in the country was laid bare following the expiration of the suspect's physical remand. The IO, Inspector Sher Zaman, presented Abbasi before the court, stating that the preliminary investigation had concluded.
Compounding the evidence of systemic administrative malpractice, a member of the ACE's Combined Investigation Team (CIT) appeared in court to reveal that millions in unsafe payments were cleared without any bank guarantees, directly endangering public funds.
Consequent to these findings, the court remanded the influential bureaucrat to jail until July 13. Furthermore, the jail administration was instructed to produce him via video link during the upcoming hearing.
Reflecting the sheer scale of the criminal network plaguing the state-funded project, the state filed the case under severe provisions. The charges encompass Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477-A, and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relate to criminal breach of trust by a public servant, cheating, forgery, and falsification of accounts, read alongside Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, Dawn reported. (