SHC extends interim bail to former minister

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KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday extended interim bail to former local government minister Jam Khan Shoro and others till the 14th March in a corruption case.

A three-member bench of the SHC headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh heard the bail plea filed by former minister and extended the interim bail.

The bench summoned Director General (DG) Karachi Development Authority (KDA) for illegal allotment of the land and it also sought full relevant record on next hearing.

The accused, who had allegedly got benefits from illegally allotted lands, appeared before the court and they told the court that they have returned back these lands.

The Chief Justice asked them to submit testimony if they have returned back the land.

The prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the court that one inquiry has been completed against the former minister.

According to officials of NAB, the former minister is facing inquiries in three different cases.

One of the cases against the former provincial local government minister includes illegal allotment of 62 government plots in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. Karachi Development Authority’s Former Director General Nasir Abbas has also been arrested in the same case. The NAB said illegal allotment of plots cost the national exchequer Rs180 million.

The minister is also facing charges of encroaching upon 262 acres of land in Thatta and setting up of a petrol station on a land of a water hydrant in Hyderabad’s Qasimabad area.

Shoro is currently the MPA from PS-62 Hyderabad-I elected on the Pakistan People’s Party ticket. A probe against him was launched by the accountability watchdog in October last year.