LAHORE, Nov 17: An Ehtasab bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday set aside the conviction of MNA Riaz Fatiana and remanded the reference against him to be opened for retrial. The bench directed the local accountability court to restart the trial of former minister for education from Dec 5.

Accepting the appeal of the MNA against the sentence handed down by an accountability court, the court observed that the trial court had not considered certain points of legal importance while convicting the appellant.

The accountability court had sentenced Riaz Fatiana in early 2002 to 10 years in prison, imposed Rs1 million fine and disqualified him from taking part in political activities for 10 years. His bail was cancelled and he was arrested soon after the order was issued.

The accountability court sentenced him on a NAB reference for getting a residential plot in Jauhar Town, Lahore, in his name through a false affidavit that he had not obtained any plot before that.

Riaz Fatiana filed an appeal and the Lahore High Court suspended his sentence and allowed him to be released on bail on a separate bail petition.

It was during the suspension of the conviction that he was elected to the National Assembly from Toba Tek Singh.