RAWALPINDI, July 7: An accountability court here on Wednesday recorded arguments in a reference against the former National Assembly speaker and PPP leader, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani. The case is related to more than 300 illegal appointments in the NA Secretariat.

The defence counsel contended that Mr Gillani had never appointed/deputed any of his relatives or friends on any post in NA Secretariat. Contesting the charges by the prosecution, he said no appointments had been made in NA Secretariat against the Recruitment Rules, 1973 of the NA Secretariat when Mr Gillani was the speaker.

The prosecution has so far failed to produce any evidence against the speaker in this regard, he said. The powers relating to the appointments of grade 1 to 16 officials rendered with the NA Secretariat secretary and not with the speaker, he said.

Similarly, he said, as many as 144 persons were appointed on vacant seats in the above grade 16 category, not by the speaker, but by the then chairmen of 36 standing committees of the National Assembly.

The counsel said from the statements of witnesses, it was now evident that all the appointments were made after receiving proposals from the authorities concerned. However, the prosecution had hurled the charges towards the speaker, which was unjust and biased, he added.

From the recorded statements of the prosecution witnesses, he said, it was evident that all the appointments were made only on vacant posts. The defence counsel also contested the charges related to the "misuse of powers" by Mr Gillani, while brining the attention of the court towards Article 13 of the Constitution.

According to the article, no person (s) could be tried for any crime/act if it was not considered a crime by the law of that country at the time when it was committed by that person (s).

Similarly, the counsel contended, that the crime of "misuse of power" was included in the National Accountability Bureau's crime list after November 1997, when Mr Gillani was no more a speaker.