KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday confirmed the interim bail granted to the Land Utilisation Secretary Aftab Ahmed Memon, Karachi former administrator Rauf Akhtar Farooqi, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) Board of Trustees Secretary Dr Salman Shaikh and other officials in the case pertaining to illegal allotment of land.
A two-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh, was hearing pleas filed by the abovementioned officials who had moved the court after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed the corruption reference against them.
The NAB had maintained that the accused persons in connivance with each other had caused loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer through ‘illegal’ allotment of five acres of land to the SZABIST.
During the hearing, the counsels representing the accused persons denied the charges and termed the charges leveled against them baseless.
The court was informed that Farooqui had taken his charge after that affair and he had not signed the summary for the land allotment, nor the allotment order.
The counsels for other petitioners also took similar pleas. They contended that no loss occurred to the government nor any benefit was accrued to any accused because the allotment in question was revoked by the government.
They contended that their names had been included in the references with malafide intention.