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PESHAWAR, April 18: An accountability court here on Thursday reserved its judgment in a reference, pertaining to illegal appointments in education department, against former NWFP chief minister Aftab Sherpao.
The court, presided over by Attaullah Khan, will pronounce its order on April 24. Defence counsel Zaffar Abbas Zaidi completed his arguments, contending that the appointment of the untrained teachers was in accordance with the policy formulated by the provincial cabinet.
The prime accused in the instant reference, Habibur Rehman Tanoli, a former provincial minister, was earlier convicted by the accountability court, but was acquitted by the Peshawar High Court and judgment of the trial court was set aside. As Sherpao was absconding at that time, supplementary reference was filed against him after he returned back from the UK in January this year.
Zaidi argued that the provincial cabinet had formulated a policy of appointing untrained teachers in the absence of trained one. Quotas, he added, were allocated to the concerned MPAs for filling posts constituency-wise. He argued that the chief minister was not an appointing authority of teachers.
The defence counsel contended that the prime accused in the case had already been acquitted. He argued that although the defendant was chief minister at that time, he could not be held responsible for decisions of the provincial cabinet.
Another accountability bench, presided over by Said Maroof Khan, will resume hearing in two other references against Sherpao about allotment of plots in Hayatabad Township and Ring Road land acquisition scam.
PLEAS: An accountability appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict in appeals filed by a former Food and Grain inspector, Hayat Khan and his two brothers, Gul Tayyaz and Iqbal, who have challenged their conviction by an accountability court.
The appellants were convicted on Aug 10, 2001, by the trial court after they were found guilty of corruption and corrupt practices.
Hayat was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs33.705 million. Similarly, his two brothers were sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs0.1 million. The court had also ordered confiscation of their movable and immovable properties.
M. Sardar Khan appeared for the appellants before the bench, comprising Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi and Justice Qaim Jan Khan.
He contended that the trial court had overlooked various important points while convicting the appellants and deciding the reference.
According to the National Accountability Bureau, assets of the convict included eight plots in Lakki Marwat worth Rs1.64 million, a house in Lakki Marwat worth Rs2.76 million, cash flow into various accounts to the tune of Rs35.84 million, two vehicles worth Rs0.6 million and cash recovered during investigation amounting to Rs1.57.
