KARACHI, Nov 22: An accountability court further deferred the pronouncement of judgment in a corruption reference against against former navy chief Mansoorul Haq and another ex-navy official.

Judge Parkash Lal Ambwani of the AC-4 fixed Dec 3 for pronouncement of the judgement.

The former navy chief and Commodore (Retd) Mirza Ashfaq Baig have been prosecuted for causing over Rs1.8 billion loss to the national exchequer in the purchase of three vessels for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.

Judge Ambwani had earlier fixed Nov 15 for the pronouncement of judgment. However, he was on leave on Nov 15 and the administrative judge of the accountability court, Mrs Qaiser Iqbal, fixed Nov 22 for the pronouncement of the judgment.

According to the prosecution, Mansoorul Haq, with criminal intent to obtain undue benefits, got an approval for the purchase of ships for the PNSC in 1994 from the then government.

When he was appointed chief of naval staff, he allegedly hatched a conspiracy with absconding accused Rear Admiral (Retd) Javed Ali and co-accused Ashfaq Baig for the purchase of ships on much exorbitant prices.

The naval officials were charged with violating the laid down procedure, terms of approval and for purchasing the ships, which were not suitable technically.

It was further alleged that the purchase of ships was against the selection criteria of the board of directors and without considering the classification record of the ships, payment of customs, regulatory and other duties.

The ships were Apolonia, purchased for US$14.82 million and later renamed as Sawat, Ora Bhum for US$15.55 million (Shalamar) and Independent Voyager for Us$16.77 million.

The accused allegedly in collusion, connivance and collaboration with each other and absconding accused Javed Ali fraudulently misused the official authority to obtain undue benefits and they failed to exercise their authority to prevent losses to the exchequer, and thereby committed an offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance.

The prosecution was represented by special public prosecutor Sarfraz Ahmed Tanoli, who examined 16 prosecution witnesses.