PESHAWAR, July 29: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition filed by the National Accountability Bureau against former MNA, Haji Naseemur Rehman.

The bench, comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai and Justice Ijazul Hassan, ruled that under the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999, a public office-holder was accountable for assets acquired by him after becoming an office holder.

The Bureau had challenged the charge framed against Mr Rehman by an accountability court, stating that the trial court had only mentioned assets of the accused acquired after 1997 as in that year the accused had became a public office holder for the first time.

Deputy prosecutor-general of the NAB Mian Fasihul Mulk contended before the bench that the ambit of the NAB Ordinance, 1999, was from the year 1985 and the accountability court should have included properties of the accused acquired after 1985 and not after 1997, adding that few properties had been acquired by the accused after 1997.

He contended that if the properties acquired by the accused Mr Rehman were not included in the charge-sheet, it would affect the case.

The lawyers, appearing on Mr Rehman’s behalf, argued that properties acquired by a person after becoming an office holder could be challenged under the NAB ordinance. He contended that Haji Naseem became an MNA for the first time in 1997 and the accountability court had rightly indicted Mr Rehman for the properties acquired only after 1997.

Stressing on the inadmissibility of NAB’s contention, he referred to cases of former MNA Haji Kabir Khan and former director-general of the Peshawar Development Authority Syed Zahir Shah in this regard.