Hearing of plea against Zardari’s acquittal fixed

Reference pertains to alleged misappropriation of funds in purchase of tractors at a cost of Rs150,000 each

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday fixed the hearing of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeals against the acquittal of former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Ursus tractor reference

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the case on Monday.

The IHC directed the NAB against further wasting the court’s time and to start preparing the case.

An accountability court had acquitted Mr Zardari in the reference in 2014.

The reference pertains to the alleged misappropriation of funds in the purchase of 5,900 Russian and Polish tractors at a cost of Rs150,000 each for the Awami Tractor Scheme.

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The former president was one of the primary suspects.

According to the charge-sheet, the then government had launched the scheme in 1994 for the import of tractors.

The tractor purchase deal allegedly caused a loss of Rs268.3 million to the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan — now called Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited — and Rs1.67 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan.