PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday fixed March 15 to record final arguments in two connected cases, including an appeal of the National Accountability Bureau against the acquittal of five health department officials on the charge of procuring insecticide for dengue control at exorbitant rates.

A bench consisting of Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Abdul Shakoor expressed annoyance over the absence of the relevant NAB prosecutor and adjourned hearing into the two cases directing the anti-graft watchdog to ensure the presence of its official before it.

It was hearing a petition of a private firm, Alaptageen Enterprises, seeking the payment of its Rs70 million dues on account of the provision of insecticides to the health department for dengue control.

The petitioner claimed that its owner, Shahid Raza, was acquitted by the relevant accountability court along with five health officials, but even then, the government hadn’t paid him dues.

Voices annoyance over absence of NAB prosecutor

The NAB’s appeal against acquittal of the accused has also been connected with the petition of the Alaptageen Enterprises.

In Aug 2020, an accountability court had acquitted the then director-general of health services and five others, including owner of the Alaptageen Enterprises, who were charged by the bureau of causing Rs70 million loss to the exchequer through an insecticide procurement contract awarded to the firm at an exorbitant rate.

It had accepted the acquittal applications of the accused under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the trial court to acquit an accused before the conclusion of the trial if there is no probability of his or her conviction on the basis of the available records.

Advocate Abdul Sattar Khan appeared for the Alaptageen Enterprises and contended that the anti-graft watchdog had been using delaying tactics on the matter and therefore, the cases couldn’t be decided.

He said that his client firm was of repute and the insecticide it had provided met international standards.

The lawyer added that the firm had suffered a loss in the deal as the payment had so far not been made to it.

He said that the rate of the US dollar was much higher at the moment than that in 2017 when the insecticide supply was made.

The counsel added that the company provided insecticide to the health department in 2017.

He said that initially, the payment to the firm was stopped due to an inquiry launched by the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but despite the acquittal of the accused, including his client, the government had not been releasing the money.

Mr Abdul Sattar said that the bureau had put forward the excuse that it had filed an appeal against the verdict of the accountability court, but the prosecutors of the NAB were shy of arguing those cases.

He claimed that his clients had been passing through miserable times as they had invested all their money in that deal, so they were facing severe financial problems.

A NAB prosecutor told the court that the case was assigned to another officer.

He sought the hearing adjournment saying the cases should be argued by the relevant officer.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2022