5-year celebration of power lunches by LadiesFund
LadiesFund celebrates 5 years of successful quarterly power lunches with #LFPower20, featuring Mariam el Bacha, CEO, Cinepax as Chief Guest and a surprise appearance by actor Ahsan Khan as Special Guest. The jam-packed business networking event was sold out a month in advance and was full of good cheer and lots of deal-making. Spotted were Peng Qureshi, Asma Mohsin, Mehnaz Adnan, Anushae Shroff, Satish Anand and Tara Uzra Dawood.
No idea how money was transferred into my accounts: Michael
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team interrogated former federal minister for ports and shipping Kamran Michael during the week regarding contracts he had approved while heading the ministry.
The NAB officials interrogated the former minister about a man named Imran Shah who had given a statement against Michael. The ex-minister was questioned about the amount in his accounts which, they NAB alleges to be, beyond his known sources of income. “I’ve no idea how the money was transferred [into my accounts],” Michael was quoted as telling the NAB officials by reports.
Meanwhile, the NAB Karachi transferred Senator Michael to Karachi earlier in the day. Michael, who was on a transit remand in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) plots allotment case, was shifted to Karachi through a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight. An accountability court in Lahore had approved five-day remand of the accused over plea of the accountability watchdog after his arrest.
Michael has reportedly been charged with illegally getting three commercial plots on prime locations of KPT Cooperative Housing Society in Mai Kolachi area of Karachi to his accomplices against which he allegedly received a huge bribe. The former minister allegedly abused his authority by influencing the officials to carry out illegal orders to make allotments in 2013.
A corruption reference with respect to 16 such plots was already filed by NAB Karachi in which evidence was unearthed against Michael for receiving bribes, reports claimed. In May 2018, the NAB had reportedly launched a probe against Michael for allegedly accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income during his stint as the ports and shipping minister. The accountability watchdog’s Karachi and Lahore bureaus had gathered evidence against the PML-N leader, according to reports.
Michael has served as a minister for statistics in former PM Abbasi’s cabinet from August 2017 to May 2018. He has also served as the minister for human rights in the third tenure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from 2013 to 2017. Michael held the portfolio of minister for ports and shipping from 2013 to 2016.
He was elected as a member of the Senate on a minorities seat in 2012 and then re-elected to the Senate on a reserved seat for non-Muslims from Punjab in the 2018 Senate election.
In January 2016, the Lahore High Court had ordered the police concerned to register a case against Michael for allegedly embezzling money on the pretext of selling the Holy Trinity Church in Murree.
Sindh govt urged to ensure implementation of ST&RI Act, 2016
PPF Secretary General Owais Ali urged the Sindh government to ensure implementation of Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2016 in a Press Briefing held at Karachi Press Club during the week. More than one year has elapsed but effective measures like designation of PIOs in public bodies and functionality of Sindh Information Commission is not guaranteed by the provincial government. Coalition on Right to Information (CRTI) is a coalition of 55 organizations working for the protection of right to information in Pakistan. In a joint press statement issued by CRTI Partners, demanded the designation of public information officers in all public bodies of Sindh, strengthening of Sindh Information Commission through financial and administrative empowerment.
CCTV C&C room opens at SMS
CCTV command and control room located at Sindhi Muslim Society was inaugurated by Additional IGP Karachi Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh. A joint venture of Voice of Karachi (VoK) and District East Police.
During the inauguration ceremony. Karachi Police Chief Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh while taking to media appreciated SSP East Ghulam Azfar, Abdul Basit Mundia and Team Voice of Karachi for taking this initiative and urged citizens to come forward and join hands with Karachi Police to work together and make Karachi a safer place to live.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by senior officers of Sindh Police, members of civil society and media.