NAB challenges acquittal of Moen Aftab, others in PSM corruption case

KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday moved the Sindh High Court(SHC) against the acquittal of former chairman of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Moeen Aftab Sheikh and other accused in an alleged corruption reference. 

On February 27, the persons nominated in the canteen contract’s corruption reference were acquitted by an accountability court in Karachi.

According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the accused were freed by the accountability court despite concrete evidence. The accused were involved in alleged corruption which led Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) to suffer a financial loss worth Rs80 million following the suspicious contract of 19 canteens.

The accused persons include former PSM chairman Moeen Aftab Sheikh, Rafiq Khan, Imtiazul Haq, Asghar, Zahid Ali and others.

Last year, an accountability court had acquitted former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Moeen Aftab Sheikh over lack of evidence in a corruption reference worth Rs490 million.

Ex-PSM chief Moin Aftab Shaikh along with ex-director (commercial) Sameen Asghar had been accused of misuse of authority which caused a financial loss of Rs0.49 billion to the national exchequer.

Read more: Court acquits former PSM chief in corruption case

PSM ex-chairman Moeen Aftab, director of commercial Sameen Asghar and contractor Abdul Rasheed were nominated in the reference. It is pertinent to mention here that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed nine corruption references against Moeen Aftab.

The anti-corruption unit had opened an investigation into the matter in 2010, which was later transferred to NAB over directives of the Supreme Court. Moeen Aftab had been acquitted in three out of nine corruption references filed by the anti-corruption watchdog.