Sindh High Court For Gearing Up Investigation In Kotri Treatment Plant Corruption Case

The Sindh High Court has ordered Anti Corruption Establishment to gear up the investigation against the officials and the contractor booked in an FIR concerning corruption in construction of Combined Effluent Treatment Plant in Kotri SITE area

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Sep, 2019 ) :The Sindh High Court has ordered Anti Corruption Establishment to gear up the investigation against the officials and the contractor booked in an FIR concerning corruption in construction of Combined Effluent Treatment Plant in Kotri SITE area.

The Hyderabad Circuit Bench here on Friday warned the ACE that the court was giving last chance to the establishment to complete the probe. The Investigation Officer of ACE Inayat Ali Qureshi apprised the court that the establishment had hired a technical expert Irshad Ahmed Memon for the probe.According to Qureshi, Memon had sought some more days to complete the investigation after which ACE would be able to fix responsibility. He informed the court that the establishment registered a FIR, on the state's complaint, nominating 8 officers of Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE) Limited and 3 officials of the contractor M/S ARA Joint Venture Karachi.They were charged under sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 477-A, 218 and 34 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). According to the FIR, the plant was built on the SHC Hyderabad circuit bench's order in a 2007 petition which was filed by a resident of Kotri, Jamshoro district, against contamination of the K B Feeder Canal by the toxic effluents released from the SITE area.

The former Managing Director of SITE Abdul Rasheed Solangi hired the consultant M/S International Design Group to prepare the PC-I in cooperation with the Chief Engineer SITE Abdul Waheed Shaikh.The PC-1 was approved in April, 2010, at the cost of Rs.667 million. However, the FIR claimed that, an agreement signed by Shaikh with the M/S ARA Joint Venture Karachi in June, 2010, increased the cost to Rs.966.95 million.The approval for the revised cost was not obtained from the competent authority. "During the course of inquiry it was found that there is no benefit of the project and it is still incomplete and non-functional," the FIR reads.

The SHC, meanwhile, pointed out that 9 bail applications of as many persons were pending before the court which wanted the ACE to submit the investigation report.The court adjourned a decision on the bail pleas until the next hearing while ordering the ACE to submit report.