02 March 2005	Wednesday	20 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, March 1: An accountability court acquitted here on Tuesday a former MNA, Haji Naseemur Rehman, in a reference relating to his absconding from law.

The court, presided over by Miftauddin Khan, ruled that the prosecution could not prove that the accused had been wilfully absconding from law.

The reference was filed by the National Accountability Bureau under section 31-A of the NAB Ordinance, 1999, which empowers the trial court to sentence a person up to three years imprisonment for the offence of wilful absconding from law.

Mr Rehman, who was elected an MNA on the ticket of Awami National Party in 1997, has already been acquitted in the main reference against him pertaining to possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

He was initially convicted by the accountability court in absentia and sentenced to three years imprisonment on April 2, 2001. The high court had upheld that judgement in 2001. However, on the order of the Supreme Court the case was returned back to the high court in 2003. The high court then set aside his conviction and remanded back the case to the accountability court for retrial.

Advocate Yahya Afridi appeared for the defence and argued that the defendant was never served a notice. He contended that the trial court had issued arrest warrants in the name of the defendant under section 203 of the Criminal Procedure Code before the filing of the reference against him.

He further contended that under the law the said process could only be started after taking cognizance of the offence and in the present case the court issued the warrants before taking cognizance of the case. Mr Afridi said that in the present case the warrants were issued on Dec 18, 2000, whereas the reference was filed on March 3, 2001.