ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: An accountability court has sentenced former chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Shafi Sehwani to four-year rigorous imprisonment in three corruption references here on Saturday.

Judge Rustum Ali Malik of the Accountability Court No I awarded four years’ RI each in three corruption cases to the former CDA chief for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known source of income by misusing his official authority.

However, the court granted him the benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) under which his sentence would be counted from the day he was arrested.

Shafi Sehwani was arrested in December 1999 after the military takeover on October 12, 1999.

The court did not sentence most of the co-accused, though it had imposed fine on them. Roohi Farzana, the wife of Shafi Sehwani, and Aitezaz Ahmed, the brother-in-law, have been asked to pay a fine of Rs3 million each, mother-in-law Almas Parveen and former officer of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Abdur Rehman Rs1 million each and Saeeda Shaheen Rs2 million.

The court has directed all the accused to pay the fine within 30 days, failing which recovery proceedings under Section 386 CrPC will commence. However, the court acquitted the co-accused, if they were not required in any other case.

Meanwhile, the court awarded three-year RI to a co-accused Haji Mohammad Riaz under Section 31-A of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance for being absconder.

The conviction was announced against Shafi Sehwani in his absence after under Section 366(2) CrPC that deals with the personal appearance of the accused at the time of the delivery of the judgment.

Mr Sehwani, who has been lodged at a sub-jail at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), through his counsel, had produced a medical certificate about his ailment, suggesting that he was unfit to attend the court on Saturday. However, the judge decided to dispense the requirement of the personal appearance with an observation that further adjournment of the case was not in the interest of justice.

The court also acquitted Mr Sehwani from second charge of unauthorized increase of the size of a plot, he allegedly awarded to the co-accused, Abdur Rehman. The judge took a lenient view in awarding sentence to Mr Sehwani for offence under Section 9(a) (vi) of the NAB Ordinance 1999, read with Section 10(a), in view of his ailing health and old age.

Aitezaz Ahmed was accused of acting as a front man for Mr Sehwani in accumulating assets.

The court convicted Almas Parveen for holding the plot from the year 1987 to 1998, though it was allotted to her by misuse of authority and corrupt practices.

Similarly, Saeeda Shaheen was convicted for being the ultimate beneficiary and holder of the property acquired through misuse of authority. She was given benefit of being an old and infirm lady. She was also acquitted of the second charge of receiving rent of the property.

Abdur Rehman was facing the charge that he had acquired an industrial plot, measuring 5,000 square yards in Sector I-9/1, which Mr Sehwani by misusing his authority had converted into three plots. The plots were acquired by violating building rules and criteria.

The court has also barred all the convicted persons from holding any public office or taking any financial gains from any financial institution for a period of 10 years under sections 15(a) and 15(b) of the NAB Ordinance.