Court defers indictment of Anwar Majeed in sugarcane subsidy reference

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad deferred indictment of OMNI Group Chief Anwar Majeed and others over charges of embezzlement in sugarcane subsidy, ARY News reported.

The hearing was conducted by AC Judge Syed Asghar Ali, in which prime accused Anwar Majeed appeared before the court. Other accused including Minahil Majeed, Ali Kamal, Nimir Majeed and Saima Ali were declared proclaimed offenders by the court over failure to appear before the court.

The NAB court also ordered to block CNICs of the accused and confiscate their properties. The investigation officer in the reference was asked to apprise the court at the next hearing which is scheduled to take place on December 2.

The court also directed to provide copies of the reference to the accused.

The reference is filed under charges of embezzlement in funds released by the government of Sindh to sugar mills as subsidy for onward payment to sugarcane farmers.

Sugarcane Subsidy Reference

The Government of Sindh through the Cane Commissioner Sindh paid an amount of Rs 3.9 billion to different sugar mills for onward payment to sugarcane growers as subsidy on account of supply of sugarcane for the season 2014-15.

An investigation was conducted on the eight sugar mills of Omni Group owned by Anwar Majeed and his four sons Abdul Ghani Majeed, Nimr Majeed, Mustafa Zulqarnain Majeed and Ali Kamal Majeed.

The investigation revealed that out of Rs728.18 million subsidy granted to the eight sugar mills of Omni Group, an amount of Rs346 million has been allegedly misappropriated by the accused in connivance with their senior employees by showing their low paid staff as sugarcane growers.