07 January 2004	Wednesday	14 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 6: The judgment in a corruption case against former navy chief Mansoorul Haq and another ex-navy official, was deferred on Tuesday for sixth time.

Judge Parkash Lal Ambwani of the Accountability Court No. 4, fixed Jan 8 for the pronouncement of the judgment. Earlier, on Dec 23 Judge Hasan Feroze of the accountability court No. 2, the link judge, had fixed Jan 6, 2004, for the pronouncement of judgement as Judge Ambwani was on medical leave.

Judge Ambwani had first reserved the judgment till Nov 15 after hearing the final arguments on Oct 28, fixed Dec 22 for the judgement. However, the judgment was again deferred as the judge was on leave on Nov 15 and the administrative judge of the accountability courts in Karachi, Mrs Qaiser Iqbal, deferred till Nov 22 the pronouncement of judgment.

The judgment, however, could not be pronounced on Nov 22 and Judge Ambwani fixed the pronouncement on Dec 3. Later, the judgment was further deferred till Dec 22. However, the judgment was not pronounced on that day as Judge Ambwani was again on leave and it was further deferred till next day by the link judge.

The link judge further deferred it till Jan 6 in the absence of the trial judge. The former navy chief, being represented by Iqtidar Ali Hashmi, and the co-accused have been prosecuted for causing over Rs1.8 billion loss to the national exchequer in the purchase of three vessels for Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.

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 for the purchase of the ships on much exorbitant prices.

The naval officials were charged with violating the laid down procedure, terms of approval and purchased the ships, which were not technically suitable. 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 included 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. The two accused were represented by Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Azizullah Shaikh respectively.