The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the anti-corruption chairman to conduct an enquiry into the allegations of embezzlement of funds meant for various uplift schemes of Thatta district.
Petitioner Ghulam Rasool moved the court against Muhammad Hanif Memon, transition officer, taluka municipal administration, and Manzoor Hussain Abbasi, taluka municipal officer, Thatta, for allegedly misappropriating the funds.
He said the provincial government with cooperation of international funding agencies had announced various uplift schemes during 2010 and 2011 for the district, and subsequently funds were released to the city administration for execution of the schemes.
The petitioner said the city administration did not carry out any development work in the district but it showed execution of various schemes on the papers. He alleged that funds over Rs 50 million were embezzled by the city administration officers.
He told the judges that he approached higher authorities requesting them to hold investigation into the misappropriation of funds but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Therefore, he requested the court to order judicial inquiry into the embezzlement of funds.
When the petitioner came up for hearing, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar was told by the SHC member inspection team that courts order regarding inquiry into the matter were not complied with. Therefore, the bench once again asked the anti-corruption chairman to obey its previous order and hold an inquiry into the matter.