PESHAWAR, Aug 30: The special judge anti-corruption here on Saturday could not hear bail petition of two primary schoolteachers who are in prison for about twenty-one months without trial.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), NWFP, had taken away the files of the case more than a year ago, and has not been returning it despite various notices. The court has now fixed Sept 2 for next hearing.

For the last six months their bail applications have been pending before the special judge, but in the absence of the files concerned the case could not be heard.

The teachers — Moazam Khan of Government Primary School, Gulshan Rehman Colony, and Bahadur Khan of GPS, Thor Baba Kohat Road — were arrested on Dec 10, 2001, on charges of being involved in a secondary education department scandal about which 18 FIRs were registered by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) here.

According to the ACE, some officials of the Accountant General Office and education department were involved in fraudulent disbursement of pension to 33 bogus teachers on the basis of fictitious documents. The total amount misappropriated by the accused was Rs14.28 million.

Fourteen persons were charged in these cases and except for the two schoolteachers, all others were either not arrested or they acquired pre-arrest bails from the court. They were charged with fraud, cheating and misconduct.

The officers charged in these cases are: an accounts officer of AG Office, Muhammad Aslam Khan, an assistant accounts officer Banaras Khan, senior auditors Malik Hikmat Khan, Abdul Waheed and Farooq Shah, a junior auditor Muhammad Asif, a clerk Muhammad Iqbal, a clerk of GHS Kakshal Mushtaq Khan, treasurer Saltanat Shah, assistant accountant Abbas Khan, senior accountant Sabz Ali, Muhammad Farooq and the two teachers Moazam Khan and Bahadur Khan.

Initially, the special judge anti-corruption disposed of the bail applications of the two teachers and dismissed it on the ground that the record of the case had been requisitioned by the NAB for an inquiry.

They challenged the orders of the special judge before the high court through different petitions. A two-member bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Shehzad Akber Khan on Feb 6, 2003, disposed of the petitions.

The court directed the petitioners to file fresh bail applications before the special judge anti-corruption and the judge should decide the bail applications on merit. The bench directed that the special judge should summon the record from the NAB.

On the order of the high court the two teachers filed fresh bail applications before the special judge. They claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case as they belonged to primary school whereas the fraud occurred in the secondary section.

Moreover, they said that all the influential accused belonging to the AG office and education department were roaming scot-free, whereas they were behind bars without any progress in their case.