An accountability court on Saturday issued arrest warrants of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Babar Ghauri in a case pertaining to illegal appointments in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), a private TV channel reported. The arrest orders were issued after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a corruption reference against the former minister for ports and shipping. The NAB has opened an investigation into alleged corruption of billions of rupees against the former MQM leader. According to the reference, Javed Hanif in his capacity as the then KPT chairman misused his official authority and made illegal appointments of 940 employees in the organisation in connivance with Babar Ghauri. NAB claimed that the appointments were made in violation of the KPT rules and regulations and resulted in loss of Rs 2.8 billion to the national exchequer. The NAB had arrested Javed Hanif in the case on July 3. Published in Daily Times, September 16th 2018.