Daily Times

An accountability court on Saturday awarded an 11-year jail term to Nisar Morai, a former chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), in the illegal recruitments case. The court also handed down a seven years jail sentence to Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, former vice chairman of the FCS. Accountability Court -I had reserved its verdict after hearing the final arguments from the defence and the prosecution following a three years long trial. Nisar Morai made 143 illegal recruitment and regularized jobs of 20 people during his tenure and the charge of illegal recruitment against him has been proved in the case, the court observed. “The charge of illegal hiring was not proved against other accused,” the court said in its verdict. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had charged recruitment on 380 jobs in its charge-sheet. The court slapped Rs10 million each fine over Nisar Morai, Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, Imran Afzal and Ahmed Shaukat. The co-accused in the reference included Imran Afzal, Riaz Ahmed, Gul Munir Shaikh, Abubakar, Ahmed Shaukat, Abdul Saeed and Haji Wali Mohammad. An accused in the accountability reference, Abdul Manan, has still been at large. The NAB had filed a reference in January 2018, accusing then FCS chief Morai and others of misusing their authority, embezzling funds, making illegal appointments and awarding fake contracts during 2014-15.