ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) withdrew on Tuesday the Beach Jet aircraft case against former Punjab chief minister Main Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo.
The case was pending before the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi bench. Mr Wattoo was facing charges of misusing authority to purchase a Beach Jet 400-A aircraft by 'unnecessarily' and 'unjustifiably' utilizing the non-developmental funds of the Punjab government.
He had been exonerated by a Rawalpindi-based accountability court in the case sometime back after which the NAB challenged the accountability court's verdict in the LHC, Rawalpindi bench.
However, Deputy Prosecutor-General Abdul Baseer Qureshi appeared before a division bench comprising Justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha and Justice Mohammad Muzammil Khan and contended that the NAB wanted to withdrew the case against Mr Wattoo after reconsidering it.
The reference accused Mr Wattoo of allegedly creating fabricated emergency for the purchase of the aircraft despite the fact that a Cessna 441 aircraft was available with the Punjab government on March 31, 1994 and could have been utilized for three more years before it required an overhaul costing only Rs20 million.
The price of the Beach Jet aircraft, according to the reference, was initially agreed at Rs165 million but the Punjab government ended up paying Rs226 million at the time when it was facing severe financial crisis. Since there was no budgetary approval for the purchase of a new plane, the entire funds were withdrawn from the supplementary grants, the reference alleged.
A fresh purchase committee comprising Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry, the then additional chief secretary, and Aminullah Chaudhry, the then finance secretary and additional secretary transport, was constituted by Mr Watto.
The committee, according to the reference, had met on March 31, 1994 for the purpose of recommending purchase of the aircraft before a summary was presented by then chief pilot Mohammad Saleem.
The chief pilot submitted his summary on April 1, 1994 by which the purchase committee ostensibly was to be guided. The chief pilot was requested by Mr Wattoo to submit the summary on April 1, 1994, on Friday (then a weekly holiday), the reference alleged.
Earlier, Javaid Zia had arranged a demonstration flight of the aircraft on March 27, 1994, in which Mr Wattoo and his staff along with the chief pilot flew to Dubai (UAE). The chief pilot during the flight carried out tests and comparative study at the behest of Mr Wattoo.
The reference alleged that Mr Wattoo misused his authority by increasing wasteful expenditure in obtaining luxurious accessories including custom carpeting for the aircraft, gold fittings, world maps on club tables and special leather coverings. These items were included in the contract without presenting a proposal to the newly constituted purchase committee, the reference alleged.
NAEEM NOOR KHAN: Meanwhile, a single bench comprising Justice Mohammad Muzammil Khan also directed Deputy Attorney-General Chaudhry Mohammad Tariq to present a detailed reply regarding whereabouts and charges against Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged Al Qaeda computer engineer, reportedly in government's detention for the past six months.
The court adjourned the case till Feb 11, after the DAG contended before the court that he should be given more time to submit reply.
