An Accountability Court hearing a corruption case against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Rubina Khalid and others did not record statement of prosecution witness on Friday due to unavailability of original record.

Judge Muhammad Bashir heard the case regarding alleged corruption in Lok Virsa funds against Rubina Khalid and others which incurred loss of Rs 30.13 million to national exchequer.

The other accused include former chief executive director of M/s Cosmos Production Private Limited, Mazhar-ul-Islam, former executive director Lok Virsa, Dr Tabinda Zafar, and chief executive director of M/s Cosmos Production (Pvt) Ltd in Self-Generated Fund (SGF) of Lok Virsa, Muhammad Shafi.

The prosecution witness Muhammad Sadiq appeared before the court but the court did not record his statement due to unavailability of original record. The court directed the NAB to produce the witness along with original record on December 15.

The 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 funds which incurred loss of Rs 30.13 million to national exchequer. The decision to file the reference against Rubina and others was taken at a meeting presided over by NAB chairman former Justice Javed Iqbal.

The NAB 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 contracts in favour of Cosmos Production Private Limited in connivance with Rubina and Zafar.

According to the NAB, Mazhar and Zafar gained illegal benefits through the extension of agreement without calling the fresh tenders, and also failed to deposit 50 percent profit earned by them; which resulted in loss of Rs 30.13 million to the national exchequer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019