ISLAMABAD - An Accountability Court (AC) on Monday recorded the testimony of a prosecution witness in Narowal Sports City reference against former minister for inter provincial coordination Ahsan Iqbal and others. 

AC-III Judge Syed Asghar Ali heard the corruption reference filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal and officials of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). Ahsan Iqbal appeared before the court along with his legal team. At the outset of hearing, the court recorded the statement of witness Mohsin Raza Jafri and ordered to make the documents produced by him as case record. 

The court summoned another witness for testimony and adjourned the case till  June 14. It may be mentioned that the NAB had accused Ahsan Iqbal of misusing his powers as minister in the construction of sports city in Narowal to get political advantages and caused a loss to national kitty.

Court rejects Farzana Raja’s request for proceeding through video link

An Accountability Court (AC) on Monday rejected a request of former chairman Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Farzana Raja, seeking case proceeding through video link and instructed all accused to appear in person in the NAB reference. 

The court said that it would initiate the procedure to declare the accused as proclaimed offender, if failed to appear in person for indictment. AC-III Judge Syed Asghar Ali heard the reference filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) pertaining to corruption in funds of BISP during the tenure of PPP.

Farzana Raja’s lawyer contended that her client was staying abroad and was not able to appear currently due to COVID-19 outbreak. She had to stay in 14 days quarantine if she had to go back, he said.

The court said that how it could proceed the trial through video link when the accused had no intention to appear in person. The judge expressed annoyance over absence of the all accused and recalled that in the last hearing it had instructed them to ensure the attendance. 

The defence lawyer prayed the court to postpone the indictment for now and give a new date for it so that all accused could appear. 

The court, however, rejected the request of Farzana Raja to proceed the case through video link and asked her counsel to inform her that it would initiate a procedure to declare the accused absconder if she didn’t appear on next hearing. 

The court adjourned the case till June 7.

In March last year, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference against alleged corruption in the BISP. Under the stewardship of Farzana Raja, a discrepancy of Rs4.8 billion was discovered for the year 2012-13 owing to the awarding of unlawful contracts based on unfair practices.

In one case, a contract worth Rs2.74 billion was awarded without compliance to the rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.