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KARACHI, Oct 5: An accountability court put off on Tuesday the hearing of a Rs298 million fraud case against four officials of the Pakistan Post Office after recording the statement of an account holder , who appeared before the court as a prosecution witness.
Qaiser Iqbal of the AC-1, who is also the administrative judge of all ACs, fixed Oct 18 for the next hearing after the deposition of Raja Sikander advocate, who was also cross-examined by one of the defence counsel.
Former post master Izhar Hussain Siddiqui, former post master general, Sindh, Ehsan Baseer Shaikh, Arshad Ali, Mohammed Hussain and Sohail Siddique have been charged with misappropriation of funds in the City Courts post office.
They are being represented by Barrister Azizullah Shaikh and Iqtidar Ali Hashmi. The state is being represented by special public prosecutor Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah, who has so far examined six prosecution witnesses in the case.
The prosecution witness submitted that he had his wife's account in the City Courts post office. He said he was also present in the post office when an investigation team raided it.
He said he had gone there to inquire about the balance amount in his wife's account. He said Rs2.7 million were deposited in the account, however, he added, there were only Rs5,000 in the account when the record was checked.
Earlier, the prosecution had examined Ijaz Minhas, the PPO administration director and Riazuddin, a clerk, as prosecution witnesses. Mr Minhas stated that Izhar Hussain Siddiqui was at the seat of post master when he visited the post office, who told him that he got retired from the service in 1994.
According to the prosecution witness, accused Siddiqui told him that Baseer Shaikh had issued a letter to him, authorizing him to continue his job at the post office.
SENTENCED: The special court for banking offences, headed by Judge Hasan Feroze, sentenced a man to a two-year term for trying to withdraw Rs355,000 against a forged cheque.
Accused Mohammed Iqbal, arrested in 2002 by the FIA, was convicted after he pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced him to a two-year term and a fine of Rs10,000 for the offence, under Section 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
He will undergo an additional three-month term in case of default on the payment. Another two-year term of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs355,000 was handed down to the convict for the offence under Section 471 of the PPC. He will suffer another six-month term in case he defaults on the payment.
Meanwhile, the additional district and sessions judge, West, Mohammed Saad Qureshi, sentenced a man to a 20-year term for committing sodomy with an eight-year-old boy.
Surjani police had arrested Jawaid alias Jaida Masih on the complaint of victim's mother, Walid Bibi, on June 3, 1998. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on the convict, who would have to undergo an additional four-month term in case of default on the payment.
MURDER CASE: An anti-terrorism court, headed by Judge Arshad Noor Khan on Tuesday recorded the statement of an additional witness in a trial against two accused, who are facing charges of kidnapping and killing a youth, adds PPI.
The accused, Athar Mehmood and Khurrum Mushtaq, are charged with killing Raghib Abbas Jaffery, 20, after kidnapping him, with the help of absconding co-accused, Asif, Sheraz and Ms Shabana.
The witness, Syed Arif Raza, acknowledged before the court that the victim described the incident to police, while he, along with his other family members, was present in the hospital, where Raghib later died.
The additional evidence was recorded on the request of prosecution, which prayed the court to record the evidence as it was important in the case. The court, after deposition of witnesses, fixed Oct 7 for the next hearing. Special Public Prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa is representing the state.
