PESHAWAR: An accountability court on Tuesday accepted the plea bargain application of former Mardan police chief, Waqif Khan, who agreed to pay Rs43.2 million, and ordered his release in a case of possessing illegal assets.

The National Accountability Bureau’s chairman had accepted the plea bargain application of Waqif Khan a few days ago and referred the case to the accountability court for final approval.

The court presided over by Ms Zarqesh Sani ordered that the accused should be set free if he was not required in any other case.

A NAB special prosecutor, Riaz Khan Mohmand, produced the former Mardan DPO before the court and stated that the bureau had no objection over his release as the chairman had accepted his application.

In May, the NAB had rejected his plea bargain application as he had offered to pay only Rs24 million in return for his release. The NAB had, at that time, claimed that its regional board in Mardan had rejected his application as it had sufficient evidence against the suspect and thus a strong case to prove in the court of law.

The NAB had arrested Waqif Khan on May 7 on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

He was charged with acquiring these assets through corrupt practices during his service in police department from 1971 to 2011.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014