PESHAWAR, Jan 17: An accountability court on Wednesday indicted former chief secretary of NWFP, Khalid Aziz, and two others in a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau.

The accused - Khalid Aziz, his wife Neelofar Aziz and a former cashier of the education department, Khadim Hussain - pleaded not guilty to the charge and decided to stand trial.

The court, presided over by Syed Yahya Zahid Gillani, fixed Jan 24 for the next hearing.

Khalid Aziz is charged with using his influence, when he was additional chief secretary, to award a contract of Rs15 million for provision of  furniture to the primary education department, to his firm, Hayat and Brothers. It is alleged that the accused provided substandard items to the department and caused a loss to the national exchequer.

Advocates Zaffar Abbas Zaidi and Aneesa Zaib Tahirkheli appeared for the accused.

A former director of the department, Shahjehan Khan, has turned into an approver against Mr Aziz.

The former chief secretary was earlier convicted by an accountability  court in a reference pertaining to possession of illegal assets. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fine of about Rs50 million. However, the high court had reduced his sentence to two years imprisonment and the fine was also reduced.