Anti-Corruption Court Denies Bail to Key Suspect in Rs8.5 Billion Karachi Yellow Line Graft Case

KARACHI: A provincial anti-corruption court on Saturday dismissed the post-arrest bail petition of the primary suspect in a case involving alleged corruption amounting to Rs8.5 billion in the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Yellow Line construction project.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment had registered a case against Zameer Abbasi, the then project director of the Karachi Mobility Project (KMP), Jhaman Das, the then director of procurement, and others. The action followed an inquiry by the Chief Minister’s Inspection, Enquiries and Implementation Team Department (CMIE&ITD) into alleged financial mismanagement in the Yellow Line project.

Abbasi, represented by counsel Nasrullah Korai, sought bail claiming he had been implicated with ulterior motives and that the allegations were baseless, frivolous, and lacked credible material linking him to any offence. Special Prosecutor Abdul Ghaffar Kalhoro did not oppose the bail application.

Misappropriation of public funds is also an offence against every taxpayer and honest citizen, judge rules

However, Judge Muhammad Aminullah Siddiqui observed in his order that the prosecutor failed to submit written permission from the office of the Prosecutor General or the Chairman, Enquiries & Anti-Corruption, regarding the non-objection. The court noted that documentary evidence gathered during the inquiry and investigation attributed a specific role to the applicant, providing sufficient reasonable grounds to tentatively connect him with the alleged offences.

The court further observed that granting bail to individuals entrusted with billions of rupees of public money—despite prima facie evidence showing deliberate misuse of authority and unauthorised release of public funds—would likely erode public confidence in the accountability process.

“The menace of corruption has assumed alarming proportions in society. Corruption committed by holders of public office is far more destructive than ordinary crime because it silently erodes public confidence in state institutions, deprives citizens of development, weakens the rule of law, and undermines the constitutional principle that all public power must be exercised strictly in accordance with law,” the judge remarked in the order.

The court emphasised that misappropriation of public funds constitutes not merely an offence against the government, but an offence against every taxpayer and honest citizen. It added that the unauthorised release of billions of rupees in violation of contractual terms and financial rules strikes at the very foundation of good governance and accountability.

“Grant of bail in such circumstances may create an unfortunate perception that influential public office holders can violate financial rules, abuse their authority, and expose the national exchequer to colossal losses without facing the immediate consequences of law,” the order concluded.

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