PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has granted bail to a computer operator of provincial health department who was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the charges of embezzling funds to the tune of Rs153 million meant for purchase of medicines.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Shakeel Ahmad accepted the petition filed by the suspect, Shah Nawaz, on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs2 million each.

Advocate Aminur Rehman Yousafzai appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was arrested around nine months ago by the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, accusing him of conniving with some officials to embezzle Rs153 million meant for former tribal region of FR Peshawar.

He contended that except the petitioner none of the other suspects had so far been arrested by the NAB.

He said the bureau had alleged that the petitioner had opened fake bank accounts in the name of two different companies and the money in question was transferred to the said accounts.

He contended that there was no monetary loss to the government exchequer in the instant case. He added that there was no solid evidence to connect him with the commission of this offence.

He argued that no other suspect had been arrested by the bureau, which meant his client was discriminated.

He stated that despite passage of around nine months of his arrest the bureau had not filed any reference against him in the accountability court.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2021