April 2, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 18,1423

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ISLAMABAD, April 1: An accountability court on Monday issued arrest warrant against the former chairman, Central Board of Revenue (CBR), A.R. Siddiqui, one of the accused in the SGS reference, for constantly remaining absent from the court.

The prosecution was also directed to produce the accused before the court on next date of hearing.

Judge Mansoor Ali Khan was told that no intimation about the delivery of summons issued against the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and other co-accused in the SGS pre-shipment inspection reference had been received as yet. The court adjourned the hearing for April 17.

During the proceedings, a process server told the court that he had visited the Karachi residence of Mr Siddiqui, but was informed by the guard that the latter was in Islamabad.

The court was further informed that Mr Siddiqui neither attended any reference hearings nor accepted the court notice.

The Accountability Court No-II had issued notices against Messers SGS officials, including vice-president Hans Fisher; the then vice-president, Colin Robey; the then managing-director, Oliver De Breakeleer; executive-manager Michael Lysewycs; operation managers, Michael Worrow, David Murray; technical manager William Boyd; managers, R Rijken and Andrea Ralph.

Earlier, the court had directed the prosecutor general, Raja Bashir, to provide the mailing addresses of Ms Bhutto and Mr Siddiqui, so that the court notices could be issued against them.

The summons were routed through the Lahore High Court registrar and Pakistan embassies after the addresses of the co-accused were provided to the court.

The prosecution was holding both Ms Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari responsible for allegedly awarding the pre-shipment inspection contract to the Messers SGS in consideration of six per cent commission of total amount received by the company from the government of Pakistan.

The commission was paid to the offshore company, Bomer Finance Inc, allegedly owned by Mr Zardari. The ultimate beneficiaries of these commissions were Mr Zardari and Ms Bhutto, the reference said.

Meanwhile, Asif Zardari, while talking to reporters, rejected the proposed referendum, and said the PPP would chalk out a future line of action after taking into confidence all the political parties opposed to the idea.