April 8, 2003	Tuesday	Safar 5, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 7: Azam Hoti, a former communications minister and a leader of Awami National Party, was convicted by the Accountability Court on Monday.

This is the second conviction of the ANP leader. In an earlier case, he was awarded 14 years rigorous imprisonment. In the latest he has been awarded ten years imprisonment, NAB said.

The ANP leader is on bail and his appeal against the conviction was pending in Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench.

The latest conviction is on the charges of accumulating assets and properties disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The Accountability Court Attock, headed by Judge Chaudhry Mazhar Minhas, accepted the prosecution’s case and awarded him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs1.5 million.

The court also ordered confiscation of a commercial plot, seven shops and his share in a flat in Model Town Lahore. This includes two cars and an amount of Rs7.7 million invested in Super Engineers (Pvt) Ltd.

In case of default on payment of fine, the accused would have to undergo a further two years’ rigorous imprisonment. He is disqualified from holding public office for a period of 10 years. Similarly, he cannot avail himself of financial facility from any state-controlled DFI.

The AC, however, acquitted his two sons, Amir Haider and Amir Ghazan Khan in the case. The court ordered that the accused be arrested to undergo the punishment at District Jail Attock.

In the earlier case, the prosecution had alleged that the ex-minister was involved in cases of corruption and corrupt practices in Motorway-2 (Islamabad to Lahore) and had awarded the contract for installation of emergency telephone system to a contractor without following the normal procedure at inflated rates.