Reference against PPP senator, two others adjourned

Hearing deferred on request of NAB prosecutor

ISLAMABAD: The hearing of a corruption reference against a senator and two others was deferred until June on the request of the accountability watchdog’s representative.

An Accountability Court on Friday took up the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Rubina Khalid and two others for their alleged embezzlement in the Self Generated Funds (SGFs) of the National Heritage Museum - Lok Virsa.

Duty Judge Wajid Ali was hearing the case when NAB Prosecutor Sohail Arif asked the court to adjourn the hearing. The court then adjourned the hearing until June 2 without any further proceedings.

NAB has filed the reference against Senator Khalid, who is also the former chief executive of Cosmos Productions.

Besides Senator Khalid, the former executive director of Lok Virsa Mazharul Islam, the incumbent chief executive director of Cosmos Productions (Pvt) Ltd Dr Tabinda Zafar, have been included in the reference.

During investigations, NAB Rawalpindi said that it had found that slam had misused his authority to extend contracts in favour of Cosmos Production in connivance with the other accused without calling for fresh tenders.

The accused allegedly gained illegal benefits because of the extension of the agreement without any competition. They also allegedly failed to deposit half of all profit earned by them as per the agreement which caused a loss of Rs30.13 million to the national exchequer.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2020.