KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against former provincial minister Ziaul Hassan Nijar for alleged corruption and abuse of authority.
During the hearing, the court was informed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader was not cooperating in the investigation. The bench then reprimanded the former provincial minister and directed him to answer the questionnaire given by the accountability watchdog.
Then, the NAB prosecutor told that inquiry is underway as relevant documents are being collected. Moreover, he told that Nijar’s residence in Karachi’s DHA has been traced which is worth Rs90 million but had not been declared in his assets.
The property is in his father-in-law’s name through the sale agreement is in his name, the court was told. Nijar employed a front-man to deposit funds of development including those of a medical college into his own accounts, the prosecutor added.
The court then took issue with the absence of Nijar’s counsel, Farooq H Naek, from the hearing. At that, Shiraz Rajpur, the junior counsel informed the court that Naek was busy in Islamabad. Then, the SHC CJ remarked: “We highly respect Naek but who will run this case and how long will it go on for?”
The court directed him to inform when he can appear before the court as the case cannot be adjourned unnecessarily.
The court then directed the accountability watchdog to file a reference against Nijar and submit a report by March 20.