PESHAWAR, July 11: An accountability appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday commuted sentence of a former executive engineer of the Works and Services Department, Ikram Shah, from seven years imprisonment to four years.

The bench, comprising Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi and Justice Ijazul Hassan, also reduced the fine imposed on the accused by the accountability court to Rs10 million from Rs30 million.

The bench, which took up for hearing the appeal of the convict, ordered that the properties of Ms Zakia, sister of the appellant, which were earlier confiscated by the trial court, should not be confiscated.

Mr Shah was convicted by an accountability court on March 9 on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment with a fine of Rs30 million.

Advocate Qazi Muhammad Anwar appeared for the appellant, whereas special prosecutor Kamran Arif represented the National Accountability Bureau.