PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the acquittal of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Senator Haji Ghulam Ali by an accountability court in a corruption case over four years ago.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Nisar Hussain upheld the April 8, 2009 judgment of the accountability court, observing the prosecution could not prove corruption charges against Haji Ghulam.

The accountability court had indicted Haji Ghulam on Sept 7, 2001, in a corruption reference charging him of possessing assets to the tune of Rs315 million, which was disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The NAB alleged that the senator had possessed properties in the names of 12 benamidar or front men, mostly his close family members and friends.

His trial had taken almost eight years to complete and finally, he was acquitted.

Initially, he was arrested by the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 13, 2001 but was later freed on bail.

The JUI-F leader had remained a councilor of Peshawar Municipal Corporation on various occasions till 1990.

In 2005, he became the district nazim of Peshawar under the local government system introduced by then military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

However, he resigned from that post to contest the Senate elections in 2009.

Abdul Sattar Khan, lawyer for the defendant, said the NAB had falsely implicated his client in the case.

He said the evidence on record did not prove the involvement of his client in any crime under the NAB Ordinance.

The lawyer said the NAB had alleged that Haji Ghulam was a councilor and during that period, he had accumulated wealth, which could not be proved as he had never remained drawing and disbursement authority so that he could have misappropriated government exchequer.

He said his client had been in the real estate business since 1971, whereas his father had been a businessman since 1930s.

NAB Special Prosecutor Azeem Dad said some of Haji Ghulam’s properties were in the name of his sons, who were minors at that time and had no source of earning money, which meant that in fact those belonged to the defendant.

According to the NAB, the accused at that time possessed two luxurious vehicles- a 1997 model Honda Civic and 1998 model Suzuki Swift. He is accused of having bank accounts in the name of his sons in Muslim Commercial Bank, having an amount of Rs1.28 million.

Other accounts are in the name of his company, Eliza Traders, and his brother, both having an amount of Rs750,000 each.

The NAB further alleged that an inn in Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Shadeen Serai, valuing Rs134.3 million was in the name of Haji Ghulam’s associates, Shadeen and Lal Deen.