KARACHI: An accountability court has indicted nine accused in a case pertaining to alleged misappropriation of over Rs1.3 billion funds in the Pakistan Navy (Civilians Non-gazetted Employees) Cooperative Housing Society and cheating the public at large.

The National Accountability Bureau had arrested and booked the then deputy registrar of the provincial cooperative societies department, Syed Jawed Ali, along with Mohammad Yaqoob Mandhro, M. Sadiq Rajar, M. Arif Baloch, Farman Ali Kalhoro, Danish, Qasim Ali Mandhro, Abdul Rehman Mandhro and Yaqoob Mandhro in July 9, 2019.

The judge of the Accountability Court-III Dr Sher Bano Karim read out the charges to which the accused pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The judge summoned the prosecution witnesses to record their testimonies against the accused persons on Sept 21.

According to NAB, the accused obtained bogus allotments of plots in the Pakistan Navy Cooperative Housing Society and cheated the public at large along with their alleged accomplices.

It initiated inquiry on a complaint filed by some allottees of the society and summoned the then secretary of the provincial cooperatives department.

The inquiry revealed that the society was allotted 25 acres in Sector 21-A, Scheme-33 in Gulzar-i-Hijri neighbourhood of the metropolis. As per an approved plan, there were 373 residential plots in addition to amenity plots, etc.

NAB alleged that the accused persons in connivance with the then officials of the cooperatives department had allegedly illegally usurped plots in connivance with each other and misappropriated funds of Rs1,367,299,800.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2020