ISLAMABAD - A local court yesterday awarded one-year imprisonment to former auditor general Akhtar Buland Rana for concealing his dual nationality.

Senior Civil Judge Shabbar Bhatti announced the verdict which had been reserved earlier after hearing arguments of both sides in the case registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against Rana for having dual nationality. Rana was sentenced to six months jail for concealing his Canadian nationality and another six months for unlawfully obtaining five Pakistani passports. After the court verdict, the FIA arrested the former AGP from outside the courtroom and shifted him to Adiala Jail.

The prosecution had presented evidence and proofs confirming Buland Rana also had Canadian nationality.

The federal government had sacked him in 2015 after the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) found him guilty of misconduct. A notification issued by the finance ministry at that time stated, “In accordance with the SJC’s report which opines that Rana has committed misconduct on numerous occasions, making him liable to be removed from his office, the president, in pursuance of Article 168(5) read with Article 209(6) of the Constitution, has been pleased to remove him from the office with immediate effect.”

This was the first time in Pakistan’s history that a complaint filed in the SJC sought the disqualification of an AGP and it was also just the second time that the council gave its opinion to the president on any reference, filed under Article 209 of the Constitution. The council had earlier decided one reference, citing the ouster of a judge in 1971.

It was 2014 when a Public Accounts Committee report revealed that Rana had withdrawn Rs 4.62 million from the national exchequer in excess of his salary and privileges in violation of rules and regulations.

There were also complaints against his unsanctioned foreign visits, his different Pakistani passports, and one Canadian passport. He was also accused of having availed long leaves to complete residency requirements in Canada for immigration purposes, along with allegations of abuse of power.

The FIA had filed the case against him for obtaining five Pakistani passports while still holding a Canadian passport. The immigration and passport deputy director (policy) confirmed Rana had never declared his other nationality.

The former AGP obtained his first passport from the regional office in Islamabad in 1998. The second passport was issued from Toronto, Canada, in 2002. Two more official machine-readable passports were issued to him in 2005 and 2011, respectively. Then in 2012, he was issued a diplomatic passport. Apart from these passports, Rana was also holding a Canadian passport, which constitutes an offence under Section 6 of Passport Act, 1974.