March 06, 2008	Thursday	Safar 27 ,1429

KARACHI, March 5: An accountability court on Wednesday acquitted a former assistant vice-president and others of the Habib Bank under the National Reconciliation Ordinance 2007.

Judge Syed Aley Maqbool Rizvi of Accountability Court I announced the verdict after recording final arguments. According to the verdict, the case was lodged in 1996 against the accused. Therefore, it deserved indemnity available under the NRO.

On the previous hearing, the judge had asked the special public prosecutor to submit a confirmation report regarding the implementation of the NRO in the case. The prosecutor submitted before the court that the NRO could not be implemented in this matter since the case pertained to a financial institution. However, the court had rejected his version in its judgment.

The National Accountability Bureau (Sindh) filed a reference (1/2003) against the former assistant vice president of Habib Bank, Peer Deedar Hussain Sarhandi, and three other bank employees, including Sabir Hussain, Anwar Haider Qureshi and Mohammad Younus Dalia, for the embezzlement of a huge amount of money.

Earlier the complainant in the reference, inspector Mirza Masood Alam of the FIA, appeared before the court and recorded his statement in the case. He said he had registered an FIR against the accused on the complaint of the bank.

According to the reference, Peer Deedar Hussain Serhandi and his three associates had misused their authority and misappropriated a huge amount of money through unauthorised release of impounded yellow cabs. The accused did not deposit the amount of Rs62.354 million in the bank’s book account and misappropriated it. — Ishaq Tanoli