Former Balochistan finance secretary Mushtaq Ahmed Raisani submitted an application to negotiate a plea bargain at the accountability court in Quetta. His plea bargain application was previously approved by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman in the first week of January.

The accountability court directed NAB authorities to share all information about recovery of properties from the accused with governments of Balochistan and Sindh. Judge Abdul Majeed Nasar at the accountability court issued notices to the chief secretaries of of the two provinces to support NAB with its investigation.

He also directed the two provincial governments to inform the court with details if the properties recovered from Raisani are auctioned off.

According to the application, on May 6, 2016 NAB recovered 2.7 kilogrammes of gold, more than 2.3 million US dollars, 15,000 pounds and 16,010 Saudi riyals from Raisani's residence.

The NAB chairman had accepted the plea bargain which Raisani and the co-accused Suhail Majeed had put forth on Dec 21, 2016.

The decision received severe criticism from political parties and civil society members, that lashed out on NAB for accepting a plea bargain on such a huge amount of corruption. Another accused in the same corruption scandal, the former adviser to the Chief Minister on finance Mir Khalid Langove is still serving jail time. NAB sources said the accused used more than 100 accounts for transactions of money.

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Rule by law

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