PESHAWAR, March 27: An accountability court here on Wednesday found a divisional forest officer of Forest Department, Noorul Haq, guilty of corruption and sentenced him to five years’ rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs17.86 million.

The presiding officer of the court, Said Maroof Khan, directed that the accused should pay the fine within one month failing which his assets should be forfeited and the fine should be set off against the forfeited assets.

The convict was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on Oct 18, 2000, on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He remained in custody of NAB for 68 days.

The assets of the convict included: agriculture land measuring 160 kanals in 1994; agriculture land measuring 659 kanal and 7 marlas at Moza Mohabatabad in the name of his mother; a bungalow of one kanal at Sheikh Maltoon Town Mardan; a plot measuring 6.5 marlas in the name of his wife in Mardan; a plot in his own name in Mardan; another plot of one kanal in the name of his wife in Sheikh Maltoon Town, Mardan; Ittehad Flour Mills at Timergarah, Dir; Dairy Farm in Mauza Mohabatabad; fish farm in Mauza Mohabatabad; a Fiat tractor; a Massy tractor; and a Willy’s jeep.

The NAB had claimed that Mr Haq belonged to a poor family. It was claimed that his father remained a prayer leader at village Kalu Shah, Takhtbhai for about 40 years. It was alleged that he did not own any inherited property worth mentioning.

Mr Haq had joined Forest Department as DFO in MPS-17 in 1983. During his service, he held various lucrative posts and accumulated a lot of wealth and acquired huge movable and immovable assets. While posted as DFO Barani Development Project, his seniors reported against his gross irregularities, following which an action against him was initiated.