ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday summoned Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and others in a corruption reference pertaining to multi-billion fake bank accounts case to appear before it on March 31.
The Accountability Court-III Judge Syed Ashgar Ali summoned Shah and other accused in illegal award of contracts in Sindh Nooriabad Power Companies (SNPC and SNPC-II) by establishing two power plants at Nooriabad, Sindh and money laundering case.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed corruption reference which consists of 66 volumes against 17 accused persons including Shah, Omni group’s Anwar Majeed, Khursheed Anwar Jamali and others for corruption and money laundering in SNPC and SNPC-II.
According to NAB reference, Shah had facts from Sindh Cabinet regarding these projects and approved it without feasibility. Shah had allegedly presented wrong facts in the provincial cabinet to provide benefit to Omni group and SNPC companies, it says. The CM had also released Rs3 billion to these companies, it says. According to joint investigation team (JIT) report on fake bank accounts case, one, Khurshid Jamali, who was nominated as an independent director in SNPC - I and II, is an interlocutor between the Government of Sindh and the Omni Group for all power sector projects in Sindh.
He was the person whose company – the ME Consultants – was awarded the consultancy to conceive, develop and design the SNPC I and II, the report says.
As per the report, Jamali had been a beneficiary of “fake accounts” himself and had not only played an instrumental role in setting up above mentioned foreign companies but also the whole money laundering scheme.
This person was further prized with the portfolio of chairman Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) – November 2013, it says.
The report says, a reward of Rs 10 million each was bestowed upon three bureaucrats of Sindh government including P&D chairman Muhammad Waseem, secretary finance Muhammad Sohail Rajput and secretary energy Agha Wasif Abbasi.
The Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was not only pleased to sanction the summary but also awarded an additional Rs10 million to Khurshid Jamali, who had initiated the summary.
It says that Technomen Kinetics (Pvt) Ltd, which had no financial worth to begin with, won the dubious award from the Sindh government in a fraudulent manner, and ultimately ended up laundering the proceeds originating from fake accounts and money from the Omni Group, and acted as a vehicle for domestic and international money laundering.
It was further found out that Technomen Kinetics (Pvt) Ltd, in collusion with a front man Khurshid Jamali (interlocutor between the Government of Sindh and the Omni Group), played an instrumental role in international money laundering for the Zardari-Omni enterprise.
The award of 85 kilometres, 132KV, transmission line from the SNPC to K-Electric Grid, to Technomen Kinetics (Pvt) Ltd, it says.
The report says that the installed capacity of 100MW of SNPC I and II could have been injected into the national grid (HESCO) through a transmission line of seven kilometres only.
However, this could not see the light of the day, the report says.
The Technomen Kinetics (Pvt) Ltd due to its role in “hundi” had become such a blue eyed of the Sindh government by 2015 that it not only used fake experience letters but also setup a fake bidder/competitor (pooling) to obtain award for laying of 85 kilometres 132KV transmission line from the SNPC Nooriabad to the K-Electric grid station. The award was given in haste, without any PC-1 and without inclusion of the project in the Annual Development Plan (ADP).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021