Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on Wednesday termed as “breakthrough” the recovery of Rs 2.12 billion from a suspect in the fake bank accounts case as part of a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
“First major recovery of 2.1 Billion a breakthrough in #FakeAccountsCase [as] one accused enters plea bargain [and] admits his guilt [and] role in sham deals in Sindh in one of [the] Omni group matters,” Akbar tweeted.
More such recoveries would follow, the premier’s aide said, praising the fake accounts case joint investigation team and NAB over the development.
His comment comes a day after an accountability court approved a plea bargain worth Rs 2.12bn between suspects linked to the Sindh Nooriabad Power Project Company and NAB.
The investigation officer while submitting a report to judge Mohammad Bashir had said that the suspects, Syed Asif Mahmood and Syed Arif Ali, were ready to deposit Rs 2.12bn into the national exchequer under a plea bargain deal arrangement with the NAB authorities under Section 25(b) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.
Judge Bashir asked the suspects if they were entering the plea bargain deal under coercion or free will, to which they replied they were doing so of their own will.
Faisal Vawda says important documents sent to NAB over rampant corruption in past
Mahmood, the CEO of M/S Technomen Kinetic Pvt Ltd and Ali, director Nooriabad Power Company, were arrested by NAB on May 21 in connection with alleged misappropriation and money laundering in the Nooriabad Power Project.
The NAB had stated then that the suspects were taken into custody for extending illegal favours to M/S Technomen Kinetic Pvt Ltd and others in projects of Sindh Nooriabad Power Company and Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company (STDC), causing a $16 million loss to the national exchequer.
According to the prosecution, the NAB chairman had approved the application of the suspects seeking release under the plea bargain deal.
The fake bank accounts case involves alleged money laundering worth billions of rupees through 29 accounts, which were found opened in three banks.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had named PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari, his sibling Faryal Talpur, Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed, his sons and more than 10 others as suspects in an interim charge sheet filed in a banking court in August last year.
The case was transferred in March this year from the banking court in Karachi to the accountability court of Rawalpindi for trial.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda on Wednesday blasted the opposition and their corrupt practices during previous tenures.
During a press conference, the minister said that people robbed the country blindly just to gain personal monetary benefits, and caused a huge loss to the national exchequer.
Vawda also revealed that the government was handing over important documents related to past corruption which had already been submitted to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further inquiries into the matter.
“The national exchequer was pillaged, looted and plundered in the past and tall buildings were constructed by the ill-gotten money as a result,” said Vawda.
Directing his attention towards the detrimental state of affairs in Karachi after a day’s worth of rain, Vawda said: “The Sindh government’s incompetence is visible for the world to see, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has failed miserably in managing the affairs of the metropolis.” He also said that the federal government was ready to help the provincial government in every possible way.