LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday acquitted former PML-N MPA and a former Punjab Saaf Pani Company (PSPC) chairman Raja Qamarul Islam, the company’s former chief executive officer Waseem Ajmal and 14 others accused in a Rs245 million corruption reference.

Both Mr Islam and Mr Ajmal were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in June 2018 and were later released on bail granted by the Lahore High Court on Jan 30, 2019.

A day before his arrest, Mr Islam was awarded a ticket by the PML-N for the 2018 general elections against disgruntled party leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from NA-59 Rawalpindi.

The NAB alleged that Mr Islam, being the PSPC chairman, was involved in awarding contracts of 84 water filtration plants at higher prices. He got contracts of 102 plants approved from the company’s board of directors and committed forgery in the documents, it added.

Moreover, the bureau accused Mr Ajmal of violating procurement rules and permitting the installation of the water plants in Dunyapur tehsil beyond the scope of the project.

The accused had filed applications under Section 265-K of CrPC seeking their acquittal in the case.

The accused people claimed the reference was politically motivated and amounted to political victimisation. They said they had no power or role in decision making in the company, claiming all the decisions had been made independently by the company’s board of directors.

The court observed that the prosecution failed to establish its case against the accused and allowed the acquittal applications.

In this reference, a daughter and son-in-law of PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif had been declared proclaimed offenders and their assets attached by the trial court.

At a previous hearing, the court had directed the NAB to submit details about the assets owned by Rabia and her husband Imran Ali Yousaf as they had been declared absconders.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2022