• Bench irked by ‘continued and unexplained failure’ of Anti-Corruption Establishment in filing charge sheet
• Issues show cause to ACE chairman

KARACHI: Expressing annoyance over “continued and unexplained failure” of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to file a charge sheet before the trial court in a case pertaining to alleged corruption of Rs8.5 billion in the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Yellow Line construction, the Sindh High Court has hinted at sending the graft case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigations.

A two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar also issued a show-cause notice to the ACE chairman and noted that the delay in presenting the charge sheet reflected serious negligence.

The bench noted that it raised a legitimate question as to whether the investigation was being deliberately delayed so as to extend undue benefit to accused persons or otherwise prejudice the case of prosecution.

It also asked the ACE and other respondents to explain as to why in view of such unexplained delay and apparent lack of progress, the matter should not be referred to NAB for a further probe since the issue was related to a major public sector infrastructure project of Karachi.

Prime suspect Zameer Abbasi, the then project director of Karachi Mobility Project, had filed a petition seeking quashment of the FIR against him.

At the outset of the hearing, a provincial law officer filed comments on behalf of ACE Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Shah.

The bench noted that the FIR was lodged after completing an enquiry. However, it observed that despite the lapse of considerable time, no report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code had yet been filed before the competent court despite the fact that the statutory scheme of law required investigation to be completed within 14 days.

“In the present case, the position assumes greater significance as a formal enquiry had already been conducted before registration of FIR during which ACE had sufficient time to examine the relevant record and material,” it added.

The provincial law officer asked the court to dismiss the petition being premature and devoid of merit while permitting the respondents to complete the investigation.

However, he could not furnish any plausible explanation for continued non-conclusion of the investigation and non-submission of investigation report.

The bench noted: “In such circumstances, the continued and unexplained failure of the investigating agency to submit report under section 173 CrPC prima facie reflected serious negligence and raises a legitimate question as to whether the investigation is being deliberately delayed so as to extend undue benefit to the accused persons or otherwise prejudice the prosecution case.

“Let the concerned respondents, therefore, explain why, in view of such unexplained delay and apparent lack of progress, the matter should not be referred to National Accountability Bureau for examination and further probe, strictly subject to its statutory jurisdiction and in accordance with law since the subject matter concerns a major-public sector infrastructure project in Karachi namely Karachi Mobility Project (KMP) for the Yellow Line Bus Rapid Transit system, being undertaken with the involvement of the World Bank including, inter alia, the construction contracts relating to the new Jam Sadiq Bridge, Depot-I to Dawood Chowrangi and Depot-II near Indus Hospital Karachi,” it added.

The bench adjourned the hearing till Oct 7 and directed its office to communicate the order to the trial court, the establishment secretary in Islamabad and the Sindh chief secretary for necessary action and compliance.

The ACE had booked and arrested Mr Abbasi, a grade-19 officer of the Sindh government, and others on the basis of an inquiry conducted by the Chief Minister’s Inspection, Enquiries and Implementation Team Department (CMIE&ITD) into alleged financial mismanagement in the KMP for the Yellow Line.

Recently, the SHC had granted post-arrest bail to Mr Abbasi in the case on ground that the quantum of amount shown to have been involved in the case was very high, but the investigating agency had not done its work properly and left several lacunas in the case.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2026