ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is yet to appoint a prosecutor to proceed with appeals filed in 2014 against the acquittal of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari in ARY Gold and Ursus Tractor references.

An Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench, comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq, heard NAB’s appeals on Monday. A NAB representative told the court that the bureau was yet to appoint a prosecutor on the appeals.

At the request of NAB, the IHC bench adjourned the hearing without fixing the next date.

Interestingly, Justice Farooq is heading another bench which is hearing the appeals of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz vice president Maryam Nawaz and retd Capt Safdar against their conviction in Avenfield apartments reference. They had filed the appeals in August 2018.

Appeals were filed in 2014 after PPP leader was convicted in ARY Gold and Ursus Tractor references

NAB has filed an application before this bench, seeking hearing of the appeals of Ms Nawaz and Capt Safdar on a daily basis. The IHC bench, also comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, will resume the hearing on the application on Wednesday (tomorrow).

About 30 verdicts of accountability courts in the federal capital have been challenged in the IHC since 2014.

In April 2019, the IHC summoned the record related to both appeals of NAB against acquittal of Mr Zardari.

The accountability court had in 2014 acquitted Mr Zardari in ARY Gold and Ursus Tractors references.

According to the ARY Gold reference, then prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Mr Zardari and others allegedly allowed the owner of ARY Gold, Haji Abdul Razzaq, to import gold and silver without paying duties between 1995 and 1997, inflicting a hefty loss to the national exchequer.

The Ursus Tractors reference pertained to alleged misappropriation of funds in the purchase of 5,900 Russian and Polish tractors at a cost of Rs150,000 each for Awami Tractor Scheme. Mr Zardari was one of the main accused along with Ms Bhutto. However, her name was later removed from the reference.

The tractors purchase deal allegedly caused a loss of Rs268.3 million to Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan and Rs1.67 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2021