ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: One of the accused in the Rs209 million Islamabad New City corruption case has questioned the validity of the reference before an accountability court on the grounds that the case was not the original reference.

Niaz Ahmad Khan, one of the accused in the case, has moved an application under section 265-C of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that the copies of the reference provided to the accused were not legible besides the reference were not the original reference.

Accountability judge Syed Mumtaz Hussain Shah has already heard the arguments partially but had to adjourn the proceedings when special prosecutor Tanvirul Islam requested the court to defer the proceedings since the deputy prosecutor-general, Baseer Qureshi, who was following the case was not available because of his preoccupation at the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench.

The court then adjourned the proceedings till December 9 after Eidul Fitr.

The same court has already exempted the appearance of Aftab Sherpao, who has also been arraigned as an accused in the case. His counsel, Chaudhry Mushtaq advocate, has secured his exemption on the grounds that, being an elected member of the National Assembly, he was busy in deliberations to form the government.

Mr Sherpao was facing charges of obtaining share/pecuniary benefits to the tune of Rs10 million in the New City project.

Other accused in the case are Qazi Mohammad Zaheer, ex- chairman SLIC Tahir Sarfraz Khan Niazi, Iqbal Ahmad Khan, Zahid Shafeeq, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Haji Nawaz Khokhar, Mohammad Niaz Ali Khan, Syed Usman Ali Shah and Mohammad Niaz Ali Shah.

This case had been transferred from the Lahore Accountability Court to the Rawalpindi Accountability Court after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requested the LHC chief justice for its transfer since the case as well as all the co- accused and witnesses belonged to Islamabad.

Before the Lahore Accountability Court, the same case was being heard by Lahore Ehtesab Bench during Nawaz Sharif’s government.

The prosecution contended that the National Housing Authority (NHA) had set up a joint venture company with Hertz International (Pvt) Ltd which was later renamed M.G. Realtors (Pvt) for the development of NHA Housing Scheme-V Islamabad New City.

Under the joint venture agreement, M.G. Realtors had to bring 100 per cent finance from its sources, 50 per cent in the shape of land and 50 per cent bank borrowings. The NHA had no financial liability in this joint venture.

In 1996, the SLIC agreed to purchase 1,000 plots in the scheme while agreement to that effect was signed between the SLIC and the NHA on June 30, 1996. The condition set was that the SLIC would pay Rs104,766,660 within 30 days of the execution of the agreement as first instalment towards the purchase of the plots.

The remaining five instalments of Rs104,766,660 each were to be paid in accordance with the condition as laid down in the agreement.

The total amount of Rs209.5 million received by Tahir Sarfraz Khan Niazi from SLIC as first and second instalments was transferred to the joint venture account in Citi Bank Islamabad but was then transferred to a private joint account allegedly operated by Zahid Shafeeq and Haji Nawaz Khokhar. These persons have no concern/role in the NHA housing scheme. The amount was later misappropriated.

The prosecution alleged that all the accused in connivance with each other caused wrongful loss of Rs209 million to SLIC.

The ex-chairman had allegedly manoeuvred the issuance of a letter for the booking of 170 plots in the scheme at a time when SLIC had not even entered into an agreement with the NHA.

He was also accused of receiving a bungalow measuring 16 kanals at Jhangi Syedan Abbotabad worth Rs25 million from Nawaz Khokhar for making alleged dishonest investment worth Rs628.6 million from the SLIC funds and releasing Rs209 million.