KARACHI: An anti-corruption court has acquitted the former director general (DG) of technical services at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in a case pertaining to the alleged secret awarding of contracts for 30 different KMC schemes worth over Rs599 million.

Ex-DG Azhar Hussain Shah had moved an application under Section 249-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) through his counsel before the Special Judge Anti-Corruption (Provincial), Muhammad Aminullah Siddiqui, seeking acquittal on the ground that there was no likelihood of his conviction in the case.

After hearing arguments from both sides, including the complainant`s counsel Shaikh Javaid Meer, who raised `no objection` to a notification submitted as evidence by the defence side which confirmed that the applicant was not posted at the KMC at the time the contracts were awarded the court allowedthe plea and acquitted the accused for want of evidence.

`No objection given by the learned counsel for the complainant, I am of the humble view that there does not appear to be any probability of conviction of the applicant in the present crime,` the court ruled.

The complainant, Zia-ul-Islam, had filed a direct complaint before the court, alleging that the proposed accused, in 2018, had surreptitiously devised a plan to award contracts for 30 different KMC schemes in a secretive manner to their favoured contractors, who were allegedly in collusion with them.

He claimed that this was done in total disregard of Rule 17 of the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) Rules, 2010. The schemes, introduced only on paper, were collectively shown to be worth Rs599.702 million, he claimed.

He further alleged that the accused, in connivance with each other, had released 25 per cent of the funds during the financial year 2017-18, while an additional Rs200 million was disbursed without fulfilling the mandatory codal formalities.