Corruption in Lok Virsa funds: AC to indict PPP senator and others on July 23

The Accountability Court will indict Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Rubina Khalid and others in a reference regarding alleged corruption in Lok Virsa funds which incurred loss of Rs 30.13 million to national exchequer. Senator Rubina who is also former chief executive director of M/s Cosmos Production (Pvt) Limited, former Executive Director Lok Virsa Mazhar-ul-Islam, incumbent Chief Executive Director of M/s Cosmos Production (Pvt) Limited in Self Generated Fund (SGF) of Lok Virsa Dr Tabinda Zafar, and Muhammad Shafi appeared before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir.
During the hearing, the judge marked the attendance of all the accused and ordered to provide them copies of reference. The accused will be indicted on the next hearing of the case to be held on July 23. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on July 1 filed a corruption reference against Rubina. The NAB adopted the stance in the reference that the accused committed embezzlement in the Lok Virsa fund which incurred loss of Rs 30.13 million to national exchequer.
The decision to file the reference against Senator Rubina and others was taken at a meeting presided over by Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal (retd). The NAB had initiated investigation against the accused in November 2018. According to the Bureau, the evidence collected during the investigation established that the accused committed "offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under Section 9 (a), (VI) and (XII) punishable u/s 10 of [National Accountability Ordinance (NAO)] 1999."
During the investigation, it was established that Mazhar-ul-Islam misused his authority and illegally extended the contracts in favour of Cosmos Production (Pvt) Limited in connivance with Senator Rubina and Dr Zafar. According to the NAB, accused Mazhar and Zafar gained illegal benefits through extension of agreement without calling the fresh tenders/any competition, and also failed to deposit 50 percent profit earned by them; which resulted in loss of Rs 30.13 million to the national exchequer.