ISLAMABAD: The Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla on Thursday appeared before an accountability court in illegal allotment of plots of Kidney Hill - Overseas Cooperative Housing Society Limited (OCHSL) - case against him, his brother, and others.
Accountability court-I judge Muhammad Bashir while hearing the case, marked the attendance of all accused persons and adjourned the hearing till Feb 18th.
The other accused include Mandviwalla's brother Nadeem Hakeem Mandviwalla, former secretary OCHSL and chairman Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Muhammad Aijaz Haroon, Abdul Qadir Shiwani private person, Triq Mehmood benamidar of Mandviwalla, Abdul Qayyum private person and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed of the Omni group.
At the start of the hearing, Barrister Qasim Abbasi submitted the power of attorney in the court to represent Mandviwalla and former chairman of PIA Aijaz Haroon.
Abbasi informed the court that the accused Haroon had been granted bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the same case.
During the hearing, inquired from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor whether it was a full reference or a supplementary reference would also be filed.
To this, the prosecutor responded that it is the main reference; however, a supplementary reference will be filed, if needed in the future.
The judge asked the prosecutor to complete the investigation report within two weeks and file a supplementary reference till the next hearing. The court also directed the NAB to provide copies of the reference to all the accused persons.
Mandviwalla, while talking to the media outside the court said the reference was based on a private transaction with the agreement of both parties, and both have no complaint.
Such references would badly affect businesses in the country, he added.
He said the high court had also declared it a private transaction in its verdict issued for granting bail to Aijaz Haroon.
To a question about the Senate elections, he said the final decision regarding holding senate elections through open ballot will be made in the parliament.
To another question about the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), he said where there are many parties, differences exist among them. The PDM will continue to work despite the differences, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021