Accountability Court: Sohail Zia Butt’s jail term lifted
Butt is accused of embezzling Rs2 million in the purchase of Ahmad Mansion on The Mall.
LAHORE:
An accountability court on Wednesday lifted a three-year jail sentence handed to Sohail Zia Butt, a PML-Nawaz leader and brother-in-law to the Sharifs, and set a fresh trial date for June 6. Butt had been sentenced in absentia under Section 31(a) of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, which allows the courts to hand out punishments to corruption accused who do not attend trials. He later moved an application under Section 265 of the Criminal Procedure Code arguing that he had been in exile abroad and could therefore not attend the proceedings in a case against him for alleged corruption of Rs2 million. He contended that he had been implicated in the case for political reasons. Butt is accused of embezzling Rs2 million in the purchase of Ahmad Mansion on The Mall.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.
An accountability court on Wednesday lifted a three-year jail sentence handed to Sohail Zia Butt, a PML-Nawaz leader and brother-in-law to the Sharifs, and set a fresh trial date for June 6. Butt had been sentenced in absentia under Section 31(a) of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, which allows the courts to hand out punishments to corruption accused who do not attend trials. He later moved an application under Section 265 of the Criminal Procedure Code arguing that he had been in exile abroad and could therefore not attend the proceedings in a case against him for alleged corruption of Rs2 million. He contended that he had been implicated in the case for political reasons. Butt is accused of embezzling Rs2 million in the purchase of Ahmad Mansion on The Mall.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.