QUETTA, July 8: An accountability court on Friday convicted former Balochistan education minister Sardar Nasir Ali Hazara and three ex-officials of the department in a corruption reference. Quetta Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Naeem Kakar sentenced Mr Hazara to seven-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs15.7 million when the prosecution proved the charge that illegal appointments in the education department caused loss to the national exchequer.

Three former directors of the department were also sentenced –- Raja Nasir Ahmed to five-year imprisonment and Rs8.4 million fine, Mirza Noor Ahmed to five-year imprisonment and Rs7.1 million fine and Mohammad Hashim Khan to one-year imprisonment and Rs250,000 fine.

KHETRAN CASE: The Supreme Court has granted four weeks time to a former provincial minister to deposit remaining instalments in a corruption reference after his counsel presented Rs4 million cheque to the court.