ISLAMABAD: The former chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Farzana Raja, has requested the accountability court of Islamabad to allow her to appear in court through a video link from the United States in connection with a reference filed by NAB against her and 18 other suspects in connection with alleged embezzlement in the BISP’s fund.

The accountability court in May this year had summoned the former chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a former press information officer and 17 others for alleged corruption in issuing advertisements without adhering to relevant laws.

The suspects had allegedly allotted illegal contracts to four advertising companies which allegedly resulted in the loss of billions of rupees to BISP.

On Tuesday, Advocate Sardar Asmatullah, Ms Raja’s counsel, informed Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir that his client was in the US and due to her health issues she could not travel to Pakistan. However, he said, she was ready to join the proceedings of the court through a video link from the US.

The judge sought medical reports of Ms Raja and remarked that after perusal of the reports, the court would give a ruling on her appearance through the video link. Further hearing of the case was adjourned till Sept 17.

The 32-page reference against the PPP leader and others stated that a complaint had been received in NAB alleging that the BISP awarded contracts to advertising agencies in 2009-10 and 2010-11 in violation of the Public Procurement Rules, 2004. It was further alleged in the complaint that Rs1.657 billion was given to advertising agency M/s Midas (Pvt) Limited.

The competent authority authorised an inquiry on May 23, 2014, which was subsequently upgraded into investigation.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2020