QUETTA, June 21: An accountability court convicted six former employees of the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTLC) in a corruption reference here on Saturday.

Judge Muhammad Naeem Kakar awarded punishment to former officials of PTLC when the prosecution proved the charges framed in the references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the accused.

Those convicted include ex-divisional engineer Arif Javed, former SDO Phones Muhammad Amin, retired supervisor Karmat Hussain, Head clerk phone branch Abdul Qayyum, Technician Abdul Samad, and telephone operator Muhammad Ali.

All of them have been sentenced to 3 years imprisonment each and a total fine of Rs4.6 million.

However, the court acquitted Muhammad Ismail and Sabir Hussain for lack of evidence against them. The six accused were on bail granted by the Balochistan High Court. Police arrested them after the court verdict was announced.