LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday dismissed an appeal of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) challenging acquittal of PML-N senior leader Sohail Zia Butt in a corruption reference.
The bench dismissed the bureau’s appeal for being unsatisfactory and without cogent grounds.
An accountability court on March 7, 2012 acquitted Butt in the corruption reference. The NAB had filed a reference against Butt on the complaint of National Industrial Cooperative Finance Corporation (NICFC) manager.
According to the reference, the corporation had planned to buy a building “Ahmed Mansion” situated at The Mall but it was under illegal occupation.
The corporation made an agreement with Sohail Zia Butt in order to vacate the mansion from illegal occupants. In this regard the corporation had paid Rs2 million to Butt and agreed on paying 50 per cent profit of the mansion to him. However, Butt did not fulfil the deed due to which the corporation approached the NAB.
In 2001, an accountability court had convicted Butt for his involvement in embezzlement of millions of rupees and also awarded him three-year imprisonment in absentia under section 31 of NAB Ordinance.
The court later set aside the sentence.
Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015