LAHORE, Oct 12: An accountability court on Saturday issued a notice to the NAB for Oct 17 on an application moved by former National Assembly deputy speaker Haji Nawaz Khokhar for his pre-mature acquittal in a corruption reference against him.

Mr Khokhar while moving the application under Section 265-K CrPc pleaded that former Punjab chief minister Manzoor Wattoo who was a co-accused in the same reference was ordered to be acquitted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1999. As contended by the accused the grounds taken by the SC in acquitting Wattoo were equally applicable to his case as well. Haji argued in the application that he deserved a pre-mature acquittal of charges levelled against him in the reference. The prosecution would submit their version on the next hearing.

Interestingly, Mr Khokhar had already moved an application for a plea bargain in the same reference. With regard to this application, the accused pleaded that a United Bank Limited branch of Rawalpindi had refused to accept his offer for receiving 150 kanals of land from him. Rather it had demanded a payment of Rs50 million. He argued that he would come up with a final reply on this issue by the next hearing after consultations with his counsel.

Haji Nawaz Khokhar in this reference had been accused of getting 150 kanals of Shamlat-i-Dai (land jointly owned by villagers) situated in village Loi Bhe near Islamabad transferred in the name of his wife without any legal authority. He had further been accused of evading Rs1.8 million zila council fee on such land.

Mr Khokhar after having pleaded guilty to the charges had moved an application for a plea bargain under Section 25 of the NAB Ordinance offering to surrender that 150 kanals of land and to pay off Rs1.8 million fee. However, the NAB disclosed later to the court that the land had been pledged by the accused with the UBL, Rawalpindi, for Rs10.50 million loan in the mid 90s which could not be released by the bank till the repayment of loan.

Following the acknowledgement of the accused to this finding of the NAB, the court had directed him to file an amended plea bargain application offering to pledge 150 Kanal land with the bank from his own personal sources in place of the originally pledged land. Mr Khokhar complied with the instructions and filed such amended plea.— Reporter