06 October 2004	Wednesday	20 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: An accountability court in Rawalpindi on Tuesday sentenced former director (inspection and audit), Central Board of Revenue (CBR), Mazhar Anwar Nurani, to nine years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for accumulating assets beyond his known and legal sources of income to the tune of Rs67.7 million.

The AC No-1 judge, Manzoor Ahmed Malik, also imposed a Rs2 million fine on the accused, who would to have undergo an additional sentence of one year for non-payment. The properties of the accused, both movable and immovable, have also been confiscated except for the house in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi, where his family is residing.

An official announcement of the National Accountability Bureau said Surriya Begum, wife of the convict, was also found guilty of abetting her husband in his crime. However, the court treated her leniently being a housewife, and she was released.

The convict has also been debarred from holding or being elected or nominated to any public office for 10 years. He would also not be able avail himself of any financial facility from any bank for the same period.

According to the announcement, NAB had taken up cases of CBR officers, who were allegedly involved in corrupt practices. Mr Nurani, who remained on different posts in the CBR and was last posted as director inspection and audit, was accused of accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that the accused had purchased residential and orchard plots, whose total area was about 99 kanals and worth Rs26.66 million. These properties were purchased by the accused in the name of his wife, Surriya Begum, and son, Kashif Khan Nurani.

Later, the accused sold two of these properties for Rs15.5 million. The accused also operated three foreign currency accounts and four local rupees account in his name and in the name of his wife.