Judge Hasan Feroze of the accountability court No. 2, the link judge, fixed Jan 6, for the pronouncement of judgement.

The former navy chief, being represented by Iqtidar Ali Hashmi, and the co-accused have been prosecuted for causing over Rs1.8 billion loss to the national exchequer in the purchase of three vessels for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.

According to the prosecution, Mansoorul Haq with criminal intent to obtain undue benefits got an approval for the purchase of ships for the PNSC in 1994 from the then government.

When he was appointed chief of naval staff, he allegedly hatched a conspiracy with absconding accused Rear Admiral (Retd) Javed Ali for the purchase of the ships on much exorbitant prices.

The naval officials were charged for violating the laid down procedure, terms of approval and purchased the ships, which were not technically suitable.

It was further alleged that the purchase of ships was against the selection criteria of the Board of Directors and without considering the classification record of the ships, payment of customs, regulatory and other duties.

The ships were Apolonia, purchased for US$14.82 million and later renamed as Sawat, Ora Bhum for US$15.55 million (Shalamar) and Independent Voyager for Us$16.77 million.

The accused allegedly in collusion, connivance and collaboration with each other and absconding accused Javed Ali fraudulently misused the official authority to obtain undue benefits and they failed to exercise their authority to prevent the losses to the exchequer, and thereby committed an offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance.

The prosecution was represented by special public prosecutor Sarfraz Ahmed Tanoli, who examined 16 prosecution witnesses.