Weapons procurement scam: NAB asked to explain failure to submit plea bargain application
Counsel says high court order has been violated.
PHC demands answers from NAB. PHOTO: PPI
PESHAWAR:
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) directed the chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the DG of its Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) office on Tuesday to submit written replies to explain why they had not submitted the plea bargain application in the case of Raza Ali Khan. The latter offered to pay a certain amount under a plea deal in a weapons procurement scam worth billions.
Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan issued the order while hearing a contempt of court petition.
Umer Farooq Adam, counsel of the accused, said NAB had failed to submit the plea bargain despite clear orders from the high court to produce the application in an accountability court within a week. He told the court his client handed an application to the NAB chairman through which he offered to pay Rs195 million under a plea bargain.
According to the counsel, more than half of the agreed amount was paid and NAB has mortgaged his client Raza Ali’s land in case he fails to pay the remaining sum. However, the bureau has yet to produce the plea bargain application in court.
Adam added the high court had also ordered the accountability court to decide the plea bargain case within ten days and NAB’s failure to submit the application will further delay Raza Ali’s release.
The bench ordered the chairman and K-P DG of NAB to submit their written replies in the case and adjourned proceedings till January 29.
Earlier, on January 13, the court directed NAB K-P to submit the plea bargain in the case of Raza Ali Khan in an accountability court within a week.
Raza Ali was arrested on January 6, 2014 by NAB in the weapons scam and sent to Central Prison Peshawar on the 31st of the same month.
He is a distant relative of former chief minister Amir Haider Hoti and is one of the people accused of embezzling Rs2.03 billion while procuring weapons for the K-P police. According to NAB, the contract was worth Rs7 billion.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2015.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) directed the chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the DG of its Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) office on Tuesday to submit written replies to explain why they had not submitted the plea bargain application in the case of Raza Ali Khan. The latter offered to pay a certain amount under a plea deal in a weapons procurement scam worth billions.
Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan issued the order while hearing a contempt of court petition.
Umer Farooq Adam, counsel of the accused, said NAB had failed to submit the plea bargain despite clear orders from the high court to produce the application in an accountability court within a week. He told the court his client handed an application to the NAB chairman through which he offered to pay Rs195 million under a plea bargain.
According to the counsel, more than half of the agreed amount was paid and NAB has mortgaged his client Raza Ali’s land in case he fails to pay the remaining sum. However, the bureau has yet to produce the plea bargain application in court.
Adam added the high court had also ordered the accountability court to decide the plea bargain case within ten days and NAB’s failure to submit the application will further delay Raza Ali’s release.
The bench ordered the chairman and K-P DG of NAB to submit their written replies in the case and adjourned proceedings till January 29.
Earlier, on January 13, the court directed NAB K-P to submit the plea bargain in the case of Raza Ali Khan in an accountability court within a week.
Raza Ali was arrested on January 6, 2014 by NAB in the weapons scam and sent to Central Prison Peshawar on the 31st of the same month.
He is a distant relative of former chief minister Amir Haider Hoti and is one of the people accused of embezzling Rs2.03 billion while procuring weapons for the K-P police. According to NAB, the contract was worth Rs7 billion.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2015.