ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court hearing LokVirsa corruption reference against the Pakistan People Party (PPP) leader Robina Khalid and others on Friday adjourned hearing of the case because of non-availability of the defense counsel.
The Accountability Court-I judge Muhammad Bashir, while hearing corruption case against PPP Senator Khalid and others adjourned hearing of the case due to absence of the defense counsel, Barrister Qasim Nawaz Abbasi, of accused Mazharul Islam.
At the start of the hearing, Abbasi’s associate requested the court to adjourn hearing of the case as his lead counsel is out of city.
The court approved his request and adjourned hearing of the case till September 14.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, Sohail Arif, appeared before the court.
The anti-graft body on July 1, 2019 had filed a corruption reference against Khalid, who is also former chief executive director of M/s Cosmos Production (Pvt.) Ltd.
The accused also included former executive director LokVirsa Mazharul Islam and incumbent Chief Executive Director of M/s Cosmos Production (Pvt.) Ltd in Self-Generated Fund (SGF) of LokVirsa, Dr Tabinda Zafar.
The bureau had adopted the stance that the accused committed embezzlement in the LokVirsa fund and incurred loss of Rs30.13 million to the national exchequer. 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 the "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 Mazharul Islam misused his authority and illegally extended the contracts in favour of Cosmos Production (Pvt.) Ltd in connivance with PPP senator and Dr Zafar.
According to the NAB, accused Mazhar and Zafar gained illegal benefits by getting the extension of agreement without calling the fresh tenders/any competition and also failed to deposit the 50 percent profit earned by them; which resulted in the loss to the national exchequer amounting to Rs30.13 million.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022