ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court hearing Thatta water supply case against former president Asif Ali Zardari and others on Monday reserved judgment on the application filed by an accused under Section 265-D Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) requesting the court to discharge him from the reference.

The Accountability Court-II judge, Muhammad Azam, while hearing the case reserved judgment on plea filed by the accused, Minahal Majeed, under Section 265-D of the CrPC after completion of arguments of both the parties.

During the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, Usman Masood, and defence counsel Arshad Tabraiz completed their arguments on Minahal Majeed’s applications. The court after hearing arguments fixed August 4 for the announcement of judgment.

At the start of the hearing, Zardari’s counsel’s associate filed an application seeking one-day exemption for his client to appear before it, which the court approved.

The anti-graft body nominated Zardari, Ejaz Ahmed Khan, and 12 other suspects in the supplementary filed in connection with Thatta water supply scam. The bureau had not nominated Zardari in the interim reference and Ashfaq Leghari and Incharge Naudero House Nadeem Bhutto in the interim reference.

In the interim reference, the bureau has nominated 13 accused including Ejaz Ahmed Khan, former secretary of Special Initiative Department of Sindh; Hassan Memon, project director/chairman of the procurement committee for the water supply scheme, Thatta, members of the committee namely; Ali Akbar Abro, Aijaz Ahmed Memon, Athar Nawaz Durrani, Abdul Haleem Memon, Mohammad Farrukh Khan, Mohammad Ramzan, Mohammad Siddiq Sulemani, Zeeshan Hasan Yousaf, private contractor Harish, CEO Omni Group Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed, and Manahil Majeed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022