KARACHI, Nov 2: A Sindh High Court appellate bench set aside the conviction of two employees of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation by an accountability court. Six references were instituted by the National Accountability Bureau against embezzlement of about Rs 45 million in the PNSC employees provident fund. Five references are pending while one was decided by an accountability court in May 2004.

Ashiq Ali, secretary of the provident fund committee, and Rais Ahmad, PNSC union leader and ex officio member of the committee, were sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each for misappropriating Rs 1.8 million. Ashiq was to pay a fine of Rs 1.28 million and Rais a sum of Rs 673,000.

Both challenged their conviction in the high court through Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed. A division bench, comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jafri, allowed the appeals and set aside the conviction.