KARACHI, Oct 7: The Sindh High Court acquitted and released an accountability court convict, former managing director of the Thatta Cement Corporation Limited, on Tuesday.

Accused Riazul Hasan Rizvi was convicted under Section 10 of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance in October 2002 and sentenced to 14 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs20.5 million. He and co-accused Thatta Cement sales manager, Maqsood Ahmed, who was also awarded the same punishment, were accused of selling cement at lower rates despite an increase in prices ordered by the chairman of the Cement Corporation of Pakistan.

Cement price was raised by private manufacturers from Rs140 to Rs215 per bag in mid-October 1998. The cement corporation chairman also ordered an identical increase in the price of cement produced by the public sector concerns with effect from Oct 20,1998. Thatta Cement, however, continued to sell its product at the old rates for a couple of days after the chairman’s directive. A loss of over Rs40 million was alleged to have been caused to the public exchequer by the managing director and the sales manager of the concern.

Both the convicts challenged their conviction and sentence in the SHC. The manager’s case was remanded to the accountability court for trial as he was alleged to have been prosecuted in his absence.

Arguing the ex-MD’s appeal, Barrister Azizullah Shaikh submitted that the chairman had no authority to join hands with the private manufacturers’ cartel and order an increase in the price of an essential commodity.

The Monopoly Control Authority (MCA), the lawyer claimed, subsequently declared the cement manufacturers’ decision unlawful and made the government restore pre-October 1998 prices. Mr Rizvi sold cement at old prices only to the buyers who had contracted to purchase the commodity before the price rise.

He suffered dismissal from service for delayed implementation of the chairman’s order, which was later held illegal by the MCA. The prosecution case did not have a leg to stand on and the accused was entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

A division bench comprising Justices Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Mohammad Afzal Soomro accepted the appeal and ordered the release of Mr Rizvi, who had been behind bars since August 2002, if not required in any other case. This is the first time that an accountability court convict has been acquitted on merit.