ISLAMABAD: An accountability court here indicted on Monday 11 people in the Rs82 billion Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) corruption reference.

But the court deferred indictment in the second reference relating to alleged illegal appointment of Tauqir Sadiq as Ogra chairman. Former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf have been nominated as accused in the reference.

Defence lawyer Amjad Iqbal Qureshi requested the court to hear his arguments on the maintainability of the references before indicting the two former premiers.

The court then adjourned the matter till June 4.

In the first reference, the court indicted Tauqir Sadiq, Mansoor Muzaffar, Mir Kamal Fareed Bijrani, Jawad Jamil, Dewan Zia-ur-Rehman Farooqi, Abdur Rashid Lone, Zohair Siddique, Azeem Iqbal Siddique, Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Syed Arsalan Iqbal and Yousaf J. Ansari.

The court adjourned proceedings on this reference till June 6.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2014