LAHORE, Aug 10: Two accountability courts on Saturday issued formal orders for former Punjab chief minister Manzoor Wattoo’s release from jail provided he had not been arrested in any other case.

The orders were issued by two trial courts following Mr Wattoo’s acquittal by the Lahore High Court in two references.

In the reference decided by judge Mahmood Akhtar Siddiqui on Jan 6, 2001, Mr Wattoo had been awarded three years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs10 million for misusing his authority as chief minister. He had been charged with paying without legal authority Rs1,061,125 to a firm, Messers Design Tex.

In the reference decided by judge Rafique Goreja on Apr 4, 2000, he was sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs4 million. In this reference he had been charged with having issued 110 plot allotment orders in housing schemes of the Lahore Development Authority on the last date of his tenure as chief minister. The prosecution alleged that 63 of these plots were allotted without formal applications.