KARACHI, April 25: An accountability court put off on Monday hearing of a corruption reference against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and other co-accused after partly hearing arguments from the prosecution. Judge Parkash Lal Ambwani of the AC-4 fixed May 3 for the next hearing as special public prosecutor Nasir Hussain Jaffery forwarded his partial arguments. He will make further arguments on the next date.

The reference against Benazir Bhutto pertained to 1,393 illegal appointments and promotion in different cadres and postings abroad in violation of existing rules, regulation and procedure during her last tenure as prime minister.

Others, charged with corruption and corrupt practices with the former prime minister, were Air Vice Marshal (Rtd) Umer Farooq, former PIA chief, Naheed Khan, Ghulam Hussain Kazi, Ghulam Qadir Shah Jamote, Siraj Shamsudin and Najamul Hasan.

The prosecutor argued that the orders for the appointment in the national flag carrier had been issued from the PM Secretariat and the then director administration of PIA, Ghulam Qadir Jamote processed the appointments and got them approved in violation of the rules and procedures.

The reference was initially filed against the former principal secretary of Benazir Bhutto, Ahmed Sadiq, and other accused persons on May 15, 1997.

However, later Ahmed Sadiq was excluded from the investigation and he was made a prosecution witness following his statement before the investigators. He stated that he had only acted upon the orders of the former prime minister.

Following his statement, the prosecution agency submitted a supplementary charge-against Benazir Bhutto and other accused persons before the then Ehtesab Bench of the Sindh High Court.

Later, the case was transferred to the accountability court, which recorded statements of the remaining prosecution witnesses.

REMANDED: The administrative judge of the accountability courts, Qaiser Iqbal, further remanded a manager and a cashier of Habib Bank in a corruption case.