Accused found innocent

KARACHI:

The Accountability Court on Friday acquitted six accused in a reference relating to Rs2.5 billion worth of misappropriation at National Bank of Pakistan airport branch.

The six bank officials had spent seven years in prison before being declared innocent and exonerated of the crime they had never committed.

Announcing the decision, the accountability court of Karachi acquitted six accused including the then branch manager Muzaffar Zuberi, Muhammad Shakeel, Muhammad Afzal, Waqas Ahmed, Sarwar Khan, and Asif Siddiqui.

Defence lawyer Shaukat Hayat Advocate said in arguments, "Neither there is any concrete evidence nor there are any supportive original documents that have been presented against the accused. Instead of original documents, National Accountability Bureau [NAB] submitted copies as evidence. NAB neither conducted forensic test nor submitted an audit report. The receipts of the customs authorities were also not submitted as well."

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2022.