PESHAWAR, Nov 28: A man was found guilty of defrauding dozens of people by an accountability court here on Tuesday and sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs40 million.

The court presided over by Khalid Badshah observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Faqir Hussain of Ustarzai Payan in Kohat. The court ordered that in case the convict could not pay the fine, he would undergo an additional two-year rigorous imprisonment.

The accused was charged with committing fraud with public after taking Rs33.665 million on the pretext of sharing profit in an export and import business during 2002-5.

The prosecution claimed that the accused had promised to pay Rs3,000 per month per Rs100,000 invested in accordance with agreements but later refused to pay the profit and the invested amount. He had paid some instalments of profit while running the Sunny Bargain Centre form vehicles in Kohat.

The defence counsel argued that the accused could not be tried under the NAB Ordinance. He contended that in some of cases the accused had paid more in profit than amount invested.