KARACHI, July 2: An accountability court on Monday acquitted Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Muzzafar Hussain Shah in an illegal land allotment case.

Mr Shah was charged with selling 75 acres of the KPT land along Mai Kolachi Bypass at a throwaway price in 1992, thus causing a huge loss to the national exchequer. He was then chief minister of Sindh.

It was reported that he had sold the land for Rs204.977 million whereas the actual price of the land stands at Rs3,000 million.

The case was transferred from an anti-corruption court to the National Accountability Bureau in March this year. NAB filed the reference (No 8/2007) against Mr Shah on March 5, 2007.

Other accused in the reference include Haji Adam Jokhio and a former employee of Karachi Port Trust, Rasool Bukhsh Rahoo.

Mr Shah, through his counsel, had submitted an application to the Accountability Court No 1 pleading that he was misled about the land allotment and he cancelled the allotment order of Dec 6, 1992 on the very next day (ie Dec 7, 1992).

Judge Syed Aley Maqbool Rizvi had earlier fixed June 30 for the pronouncement of his judgment in the case, but the accused was not present and his counsel had requested for his exemption from attending the court.

However, the court adjourned the pronouncement of the order and made the provincial assembly speaker’s presence mandatory on the next date.

On July 2, Mr Shah arrived at the court at 9.55am. For about two-and-a-half hours, he waited for the pronouncement of the judgment in the courtroom.

The court acquitted him in the case. However, the rest of the accused would face the trial, sources in NAB told Dawn.