Karachi - National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday arrested former minister for ports and shipping Kamran Michael from Lahore in a corruption case, reported private TV channels.
Michael, who was a minister in PML-N’s government, will be charged by NAB’s Karachi division for illegally allotting commercial and residential plots of KPT Cooperative Housing Society (Mai Kolachi) Karachi to his favourites.
As per accountability watchdog statement, the former minister is accused of misusing his authority and allegedly influenced officials to carry out the illegal allotments in 2013, the statement said, adding that the plots are worth Rs1.05 billion.
A corruption reference, with respect to 16 such plots was already filed by NAB Karachi “in which evidence against Kamran Michael of receiving bribe was unearthed during further investigation”, the bureau added.
The arrest was a joint operation by NAB’s Karachi and Lahore circles who obtained his arrest warrants from Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal. He is expected to be shifted to Karachi soon.
Kamran Michael had served as Minister for Statistics in Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s cabinet from August 2017 to May 2018. Previously Michael held the cabinet portfolio of Minister for Ports and Shipping from 2013 to 2016.
Michael has been an elected member of the Senate on minorities seat since 2012 and has served as the Provincial Minister for Minorities Affairs, Human Rights, Women development, Social Welfare and Finance in Punjab Assembly.
Earlier this week, NAB arrested Punjab minister Aleem Khan, a senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The bureau has also arrested PML-N leaders Shehbaz Sharif, Saad and Salman Rafique in corruption cases.