LAHORE, Sept 26: An accountability court refused on Thursday to recall the sentence awarded to a former XEN in absentia and ordered that the accused should serve the sentence first before availing the benefit of plea bargain.

A former XEN of the engineering works, Wasim Yasin, was declared a proclaimed offender and on July 6, 2002, sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment in absentia.

He had been charged with causing loss of millions of rupees to national exchequer in connivance with another XEN, Tehseen Raza, in a water pumps installation project in Bahawalpur.

Tehseen has already been let off by the court following a plea bargain.

Wasim surrendered to the NAB who produced him before the court on Thursday. It was submitted that Wasim had deposited Rs1.7 million to the credit of the NAB.

It was further pleaded that Wasim’s three years rigorous imprisonment conviction be reversed since he had settled his account with the NAB.

The court refused to recall the sentence awarded in absentia and ordered that the accused should serve the sentence first before availing the benefit of plea bargain. Sending the accused to jail, the court observed that he could move the Lahore High Court for the suspension of his sentence.