An accountability court on Saturday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Babar Ghauri in a reference pertaining to Rs2.8 billion corruption in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT).

NAB has alleged in the reference — filed on the Sindh High Court's orders — that eight men, including Ghouri, in connivance with each other had illegally regularised 940 employees of KPT, causing Rs2.8bn loss to the national exchequer.

The court on Saturday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Ghauri and deferred hearing the reference until October 17.

NAB had first taken this case to the SHC which had directed that a reference on the matter be filed in the accountability court by August 8.

Earlier, the SHC had directed NAB to arrest Ghauri as part of the investigation.

“What had the NAB done to arrest Ghauri and others? If some accused persons are still absconding, they should be arrested,” a member of the SHC bench had remarked at the time.