HYDERABAD: The Accountability Court-II in Hyderabad has stopped the National Accountability Bureau from deducting 25pc of the embezzled funds recovered under plea bargain from two accused in Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway M6 land scam case, and ordered the bureau officials to return the amount to National Highway Authority (NHA) within 15 days.
The judge, Mahboob Ali Dayo, who issued the directives the other day, noted that the NHA had sourced the funds from the coffers of taxpayers or through imposition of toll taxes on general public. Hence, the amount rightly belonged to federal government, thereby precluding NAB from asserting entitlement to 25pc share in the principal recovery amount, said the order.
The order was passed after NAB investigating officer Irfan Ali submitted a report to the court, delineating recovery of movable and immovable properties from the two accused, Ashiq Hussain Kaleri and Ikhlaq Hussain Shah through plea bargain.
Accountability court declares deduction of 25pc share from recovery under plea bargain ‘unlawful’
The amount the court had asked the NAB to return to NHA came to Rs219,529,500, which is 25pc of the total Rs878,118,000, out of which the accused Ashiq Hussain Kaleri had deposited Rs857,138,000 and his co-accused Ikhlaq Hussain Shah handed back Rs20,980,000.
The IO stated that since the 25pc share deducted by the NAB as per standard operating procedure (SOP) was Rs219,529,500 thus an amount of Rs658,588,500 was to be returned to the NHA.
The court said during endorsement of plea bargain for the recovery of Rs878,118,000 under section 25(b) of National Accountability Ordi-nance (NAO) explicit instructions were issued to NAB chairman, directing him to return the entire amount to federal government, specifically NHA, in strict conformity with statutory provisions.
The court said that subsequent scrutiny of the report revealed that Rs658,588,500 had been reimbursed to NHA and Rs219,529,500 had been deducted from the recovered amount as 25pc share for NAB. This deduction appeared bereft of justification as NAO 1999 categorically stopped NAB from effecting deductions from the recoveries.
The judge observed that records substantiate that entire aforementioned sum was released by NHA with the intent to facilitate land acquisition for M6. Despite ostensibly altruistic objectives of the project to serve general public, the accused, through collusion of each other, engaged in corrupt practices, he said.
This transgression not only resulted in malfeasance of public funds but also obstructed initiation of road construction process, consequently causing inconvenience to millions of people travelling daily on highways and roads and facing accidents due to prevailing dilapidated road conditions.
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024