ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of the Thatta water supply and sugarcane subsidy scam after the defence counsel made partial arguments regarding the acquittal applications filed by the accused under the National Accountability (Amendment) Act 2022.

Accountability Court-II Judge Muhammad Azam while hearing the case regarding the award of the illegal contract of Thatta water supply to Harish against former president Asif Ali Zardari and others adjourned the hearing of the case till November 15.

Farooq H Naeek, Zardari’s counsel, and Arshad Tabraiz, counsel for another accused, conducted partial argument over the acquittal application of their clients.

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

Usman Masood Mirza NAB Prosecutor also appeared before the court. The anti-graft body nominated Zardari, Ejaz Ahmed Khan, and 12 other suspects in the supplementary filed in connection with the Thatta water supply scam. The bureau had not nominated Zardari in the interim reference and Ashfaq Leghari and In-charge Naudero House Nadeem Bhutto in the interim reference.

In the interim reference, the bureau has nominated 13 accused including Ejaz Ahmed Khan, former secretary 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, and Zeeshan Hasan Yousaf, a private contractor Harish, CEO Omni Group Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed, and Manahil Majeed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022