KARACHI, March 18: An accountability court acquitted on Monday a former federal commerce minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, and former secretary of the ministry of commerce, Brig (retd) Aslam Hiyat, in a corruption reference.

The reference pertained to the irregularities and corrupt practices in a deal of 50,000 tons of rice, which allegedly caused a loss of about Rs67.8 million to the national exchequer.

Judge Dr Qamaruddin Bohra of AC-1 exonerated the former minister, belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party, and the former federal secretary from the charges as the “prosecution miserably failed to prove its case against the accused.”

The judge, however, convicted in absentia the former chief of RECP, Sukkur, Shaikh Mohammed Ishaq; former federal secretary, Salman Farooqui, and Riaz Lalji, the business tycoon who had benefited from the deal. They were earlier declared proclaimed offenders after their failure to appear before the court despite several notices.

Judge Bohra sentenced the absconders to a three-year term for “deliberately avoiding the court proceedings”. The judge also ordered attachment of entire immovable properties of the absconders.

This was the 25th judgment pronounced by Judge Qamaruddin Bohra since the establishment of the AC-1. The judge acquitted the accused in three references only and pronounced convictions in the remaining references.

While talking to Dawn after the verdict, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said he was honourably acquitted in the case as he was innocent. “I was politically victimized twice, first by the Nawaz Sharif government and then by the military regime.”

The former minister was represented by Farooq H. Naek, while Aslam Hiyat by Ilyas Khan.

BENAZIR CASE: Judge Mohammed Javed Alam of the AC-4 put off the hearing of a corruption reference against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and others after the statement of two defence witnesses for one of the accused.