KARACHI, Aug 28: Former Bankers Equity chairman Rauf B. Kadri was on Thursday granted bail in all five cases in which his appeals against conviction and sentences are pending before the Sindh High Court.

The appellant was sentenced to a total of 51 years imprisonment and a fine of over Rs33 million by accountability courts in the five cases.

He challenged the conviction in the high court and sought bail pending hearing of the appeals. The bail plea was heard by a division bench comprising Justices Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Mohammad Afzal Soomro for two weeks and allowed by a short order on Thursday. Advocate Raja Qureshi appeared for the appellant and deputy prosecutor-general Anwar Tariq for the National Accountability Bureau.

The appellant was convicted of misappropriation and other offences under Sections 409, 420, 468, 477 and A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The amount involved in the cases added up to Rs38 million. In one of the cases, a prosecution witness, Dawood Jan Mohammad, was also held liable and directed to pay Rs4 million.

In two cases, co-accused Inamul Haq, former Bankers Equity Limited president, was acquitted. Co-accused Ashfaque Y. Tola, former head of the BEL accounts department won acquittal in two cases by paying a total of Rs1.67 million by way of plea bargain under Section 25 of the NAB Ordinance.