PESHAWAR, June 28: The court of Judicial Magistrate Syed Aqeel Ajiz acquitted federal minister for water and power Aftab Ahmad Sherpao in a case of his illegal exit from the country in early 2000.

The presiding officer acquitted him under section, a section under which the magistrate is empowered to acquit an accused at any stage of the trial when there is no possibility of his conviction.

Despite repeated notices the prosecution witnesses, mostly belonging to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), did not turn up before the court and even their arrest warrants were issued.

Advocate Tariq Afridi, appearing for the defence, had filed an application for acquitting Mr Sherpao before conclusion of his trial, stating that keeping in view the evidence on record there was no probability of his conviction.

Mr Afridi argued that the defendant possessed legally issued passport, therefore no case could be made against him under the Passport Act. He contended that the said passport carried both exit and entry stamps. He added that the exit stamp was placed on the passport in Islamabad, which meant that he had legally left the country.

He argued that the government had never communicated to him that his name was on the ECL and in fact when his name was placed on the ECL he had already left the country. He added that the prosecution could not produced a single evidence against the defendant to prove his guilt and thus there was no possibility of his conviction.

He requested the court to acquit the defendant before completion of the trial.

This was the last case pending against Mr Sherpao here. On June 21 he was acquitted by an accountability court in the Ring Road land acquisition case.

He  was charged in an FIR registered by  the  Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Passport Cell on Jan 6, 2002, the day when Mr Sherpao returned back to Pakistan after ending his two- year self exile.

The FIA had claimed that Mr Sherpao had left the country through an unauthorised route which was a crime under the law.

The court had indicted Mr Sherpao on April 29 and he had pleaded not guilty to the charge.