Court defers indictment of Saleem Mandviwalla, others

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad has deferred the indictment of former Senate deputy chairman Saleem Mandviwalla and others in Kidney Hills reference till April 8, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The accountability court heard the Kidney Hills reference of fake bank accounts case today while the co-accused Saleem Mandviwalla and others have appeared in the hearing. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice-president and ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also reached the accountability court.

However, the hearing was adjourned without any proceedings. A co-accused Abdul Qayyum was handed over the copy of a corruption reference.

Read: NAB files reference against Saleem Mandviwalla

The hearing was adjourned till April 8.

Prior to appearing before the court, Mandviwalla interacted with the journalists and claimed that Yousaf Raza Gillani has won the Senate polls as he grabbed a total of 49 votes while only one vote was rejected.

He added that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stood with its stance for not leaving the parliament which is the real forum.

Illegal land allotments

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against ex-Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla in an illegal land allotments case on January 13.

Read: Might have to shut down NAB for ‘human rights violations’: Mandviwalla

The anti-graft watchdog in its reference stated the accused sold government plots to Abdul Ghani Majeed – son of Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed.

According to NAB, Mandviwalla had purchased fake shares in the name of his frontman by selling the plots.

The national graft buster had also submitted a report to the court which stated that former PIA managing director Aijaz Haroon had also played a key role in selling illegal plots to Abdul Ghani Majeed.

The NAB had nominated Saleem Mandviwalla, Aijaz Haroon, Abdul Ghani Majeed and Tariq Mehmood as offenders in the reference.