Kidney Hill case: NAB's freezing order endorsed; Mandviwalla rejects accusations

ISLAMABAD: The accountability court (AC) on Tuesday endorsed freezing of shares worth Rs31,080,000 of Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla, in investigation regarding "illegal" allotment of plots of Overseas Cooperative Housing Society (Kidney Hill), a case pertaining to fake bank accounts.

The AC-I judge Muhammad Bashir while hearing the case, approved the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)'s application seeking confirmation of order dated Nov 11, for freezing 310,800 shares valuing Rs31,080,000 purchased by the accused Mandviwalla in the name of his employee/associate Tariq Mehmood.

The court approved NAB's request and disposed of the case.

The NAB prosecutor Sohail Arif told the court that accused Muhammad Ajaz Haroon, chairman Overseas Cooperative Society (OCS) and former chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and deputy chairman Senate Mandviwalla embezzled the government land in connivance with each other through illegal and fraudulent allotment and received illegal and unlawful gains of Rs144.2 million from fake bank accounts namely A-One International and Lucky International under the garb of business deal or property transaction with Abdul Ghani Majeed, chief executive officer (CEO) of OMNI group.

The prosecutor further said the alleged property/business deal was coordinated by the accused Mandviwala using his brother Nadeem Hakeem Mandviwala sole proprietorship namely Mandviwala Builders and Developers, and received Rs64.2 million out of total crime proceeds of Rs144.2 million.

The accused allegedly through utilising the aforementioned accounts purchased 310,800 shares worth Rs 31,080,000 in the name of his employee/associate, Tariq Mehmood.

He further said it is apprehended that accused Saleem Mandviwala can dispose of said shares of Mangla View Resort (Pvt) Ltd.

The bureau had also nominated Haroon in the same case.

Mandviwala had also appeared before the combined investigation team (CIT) of the NAB headed by Director General (DG) Rawalpindi Irfan Mangi, and recorded his statement regarding illegal allotment of plots case of the Overseas Cooperative Housing Society Ltd (Kidney Hill).

A statement issued by the Deputy Chairman Senate's office, after the news regarding freezing of shares was aired on electronic media, said that propagated accusations against Senator Manviwala by the NAB were baseless, and their mischaracterization as benami transactions was an act of political victimization.

Mandviwalla emphatically denies these allegations.

All business activities carried out by Senator Mandviwalla have been conspicuous and lawful under the laws of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Senator Mandviwalla will seek justice and challenge these false accusations at all appropriate forums available to him. He shall pursue appropriate legal recourse against the NAB's unlawful actions.

He also fully intends to bring a privilege motion to the Senate regarding the NAB's nefarious propaganda and unconscionable maligning of Senator Mandviwalla with unproven and baseless accusations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020