KARACHI, Aug 29: An accountability court on Wednesday sentenced a builder to 10 years in prison in a corruption reference.

Syed Moshin Ali, the chief executive officer of the Al-Rehman builders and developers, was found guilty of cheating the public at large by not allotting them plots despite receiving payments from them in 1994.

Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Accountability Court-I pronounced his verdict after recording evidence and hearing final arguments from both sides.

The court imposed a fine of Rs5 million and in case of default the convict would have to undergo an additional two-year imprisonment.

The judge also directed the National Accountability Bureau to take over the land in question and to distribute it among the victims under the law.

The convict was also declared disqualified for 10 years from being elected or appointed a member of any public body or statuary authority and government services.

The court in its verdict observed that the charge against the accused for cheating the public at large was proved beyond a shadow of a doubt as the prosecution has placed ample evidence against him.

According to the reference (5/08) filed by the NAB, the accused got a no-objection certification (NOC) from the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) in March 1994 to develop a piece of land for housing society (Gulshan-i-Ahsan) near Toll Plaza in Jamshoro district and the HDA directed the accused to distribute the plots among applicants within three years. However, despite getting payments from a large number of people the accused did not allot plots to them and NAB initiated an inquiry in 2007 after receiving many complaints against the accused.

The accused was on bail and following the pronouncement of the verdict was taken into custody and sent to prison along with a conviction warrant to serve out the awarded sentence.

Dozens of victims of his fraud were also present in the courtroom on Wednesday.