PESHAWAR, Sept 17: An accountability court here on Monday convicted an industrialist from Punjab, Seth Nisar, on charges of evading custom duty and defaulting on loans acquired from a bank and sentenced him to five years imprisonment with fine of Rs59.05 million.

The court presided over by Shamsher Ali Khan ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused and the evidence on record was enough for his conviction.

The convict was initially arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on Aug 21, 2002. Later he was released on bail by the Peshawar High Court.

Seth Nisar is stated to be the elder brother of a central character of the Bank of Punjab scam, Sheikh Afzal, owner of Haris Steel Industries (HSI), Lahore, and has also been charged in that case there. The case was investigated by senior investigation officer of NAB, Enayatullah Khan, who claimed that the accused was major share holder and chief executive of M/S Hayat Industries (Pvt) Limited, Gadoon Amazai.

It was stated that he had imported raw material for his factory and had availed exemption of certain duty on that consignment which was meant for Gadoon Amazai, but the raw material never reached there and was sold out on its way.—Bureau Report