June 26, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1423

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KARACHI, June 25: A former hockey captain, Mansoor Ahmed, was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment, with Rs2 million fine, by an accountability court here on Tuesday.

Co-accused Feroz Ahmed, a custodian of the customs warehouse No 1 at Karachi, and Ayoob Tahir, a jeweller, were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Mansoor was working as a custodian of the warehouse. The prosecution had alleged that Mansoor, in connivance with Feroz and Ayoob of M/s Tahir Jewellers, had removed 1087kg silver from the warehouse, causing a Rs9.7 million loss to the exchequer.

Judge Rehmat Hussain Jaferri of Accountability Court No III sentenced the hockey star and also ordered that if he failed to pay the fine, he would undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further two-and-a-half years. Also, Mansoor was disqualified for 10 years from holding any public office.

Prosecution said that Mansoor used to reach the warehouse early in the morning where he would open the seal of the main hall’s grill and remain inside on the pretext of watching movies. He used to leave the hall about 10 or 10.30am, with bags stuffed with silver and other items. The prosecution said that Mansoor would return to the warehouse empty-handed after about half an hour.

The prosecution’s case was that Syed Arif Shah, a sepoy, had found a slab of silver in Mansoor’s car. Mansoor had bribed Arif Shah and told him that he should leave for Dubai where he would be employed for two years. Mansoor also offered the sepoy that he would arrange for the job and the air ticket.

The judge held that from the evidence it had been established beyond any shadow of doubt that the accused had been removing the silver from the state warehouse during the period of his posting, but there was no evidence with regard to the quantity of the silver.

APPEAL: Mansoor, who captained Pakistan to World Cup victory in 1994 in Australia, said he would appeal against the verdict.

“I am devastated and will appeal in higher courts,” Mansoor told AFP.