ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved judgment in a liquor sale permit case involving former Sindh excise and taxation minister Ismail Rahu and four other co- accused.

A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, winding up two days hearing, directed the parties to submit written arguments within 15 days.

The bench was hearing four appeals moved by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), challenging acquittal of Ismail Rahu and three others by the Sindh High Court (SHC). A separate appeal had been filed by Agha Wazir Abbas, the then excise and taxation officer, against his conviction.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan appeared on behalf of Ismail Rahu, while other respondents were represented by senior advocates Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Kamal Azfar. Ahmad Raza Kasuri appeared on behalf of NAB.

The chief justice observed that the prosecution and investigation system of NAB needed to be improved since there were certain lacunas. In many cases, an accused was awarded punishment, but the convict was later exonerated by the appellate court, the court further observed.

Ismail Rahu and four other co-accused - Agha Wazir Abbas, Raj Kumar, Kaka Kishan Chand and Ashar Jan - were charged with inflicting a loss of Rs66 million to the national exchequer by receiving bribe for issuing permit for the sale of liquor.

The accountability court had awarded seven years imprisonment to each of them and also disqualified them from holding any public office for 10 years. The accused were also required to pay additional Rs300,000 in case of non-payment of fine. But they later challenged their conviction in the SHC which acquitted all of them except Agha Wazir Ali.