LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday denied further custody of former principal secretary to Chief Minister Muhammad Khan Bhatti to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and sent him to jail till September 25 in a case of receiving kickbacks in development schemes.

Earlier, the investigating officer asked the court for further extension in the remand of the suspect to complete the investigation. The counsel of Bhatti opposed the remand, saying the NAB had not presented any incriminating evidence against his client, hence there was no reason to allow further custody to the bureau, he added.

Bhatti is facing charges of misuse of authority and receiving kickbacks of over one billion rupees against the approval of development schemes for the Gujrat division. The NAB alleged that the suspect manoeuvred the award of contracts in favour of his blue-eyed contractors in connivance with officials of government departments.

The bureau further alleged that the money of the corruption committed by Bhatti had been transferred into the bank accounts of former Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023