From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Thursday arrested Karachi Development Authority (KDA) Director General Asif Ali Memon on charges of corruption.
Karachi (East) team of the agency Memon and his deputy Atif Khan and registered a case against them.
It merits a mention here the arrests have been made in connection with separate corruption cases and are not related to the probe into the approval for the building of Nasla Tower. Reports citing sources claimed the graft watchdog received complaints against the officials. The two would now be grilled regarding the charges.
Meanwhile, action has also been initiated against officials who approved Nasla Tower’s construction.
The Ferozeabad police registered a first information report (FIR) against the builder of the unit, officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society, a residential neighbourhood in Karachi, and the plot owner. Nasla Tower is a 15-storey residential building which the top court in October directed to demolish for encroaching on the land reserved for a service road.
On Monday, a two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, ordered the police and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to probe officials who were involved in the process of approving the building plan for the tower.
The case was lodged on behalf of the state under sections 34 (common intention), 161 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect to an official act), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture), 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 447 (criminal trespass) of the PPC.
The complaint said the city commissioner was ordered to submit a report to the court after an investigation from various departments related to the tower.
