ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: The decision whether to acquit local PML-N leader Chaudhry Tanvir in the assets case is likely to be handed down by an accountability judge on September 19.

Former Senate chairman Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for Mr Tanvir, had submitted an application under section 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for honourable acquittal of his client from charges of amassing properties worth Rs181 million, disproportionate to his known source of income. In his defence, the accused was pleading that he had already been acquitted by another court under the same charges in which he had been arraigned in the new case.

The accused emphasized that the new reference was derived from charge No I and 4 of the previous reference, therefore his trial fell within the ambit of double jeopardy as he had already completed the term after his conviction.

The court had to decide the application on Friday, but then deferred the decision till September 19 when Wasim Sajjad submitted case laws in support of his earlier arguments.

Mr Tanvir, who is on bail from the Supreme Court, is denying the charges under which the prosecution was accusing him of making immovable properties, disproportionate to his known source of income during 1980 to 1997, in the capacity of vice-president of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board.