PESHAWAR, May 8: An accountability appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment in an appeal of a former senator of the PML (N), Jawed Iqbal Abbasi, challenging his conviction by an Ehtesab court.

The bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervaiz and Justice Abdur Rauf Lughmani heard arguments of the appellant’s counsel, Abdul Samad Khan, and National Accountability Bureau representative Qazi Rasheedul Haq.

Mr Abbasi was convicted on Nov 29, 2001, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment with Rs21.52 million fine. He was arrested on Aug 20, 2000, and since then he has been behind bars.

Samad Khan contended that in complete deviation to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Ehtesab court had conducted the trial without framing any specific charges. He argued that without framing of charges trial could not be conducted against an accused.

Samad Khan stated that the only thing mentioned in the chargesheet against the accused was that he had made fortune to the tune of Rs40 million through corruption and corrupt practices which was a crime under the NAB Ordinance 1999. He said the accused was not informed in specific terms about his crime. He quoted various sections of the CrPC, stating that these were not followed by the trial court.

He further stated that the benamidars mentioned in the trial were not issued any notice by the court and they were condemned unheard.

He contended that it was violative to the principle of natural justice to condemn a person unheard. He referred to various judgments of the superior courts and stated that the charges framed by the court should be clear.

Qazi Rasheedul Haq rebutted his argument and argued that the trial court had mentioned that the charges against the accused were of corruption and corrupt practices. He added that in the reference against the appellant the NAB had mentioned in clear terms the properties acquired through corrupt practices.