RAWALPINDI, June 29 An accountability court here on Monday convicted a former registrar of the Supreme Court and three others in a corruption and embezzlement case.

Abdul Qayyum Raja, the judge of the Accountability Court No 4, convicted the former SC Registrar Mohammad Amin Farooqi; Nadeem Anwar, Javed Iqbal Qureshi, ex-presidents and chief executive officers of Islamic Investment Bank (IIBL) and Zubairullah Bangash, an investor, for depriving the SC of Rs634 million.

Farooqi, Nadeem and Javaid will have to undergo 10 years' rigorous imprisonment. The judge imposed a fine of Rs100 million on the three convicts. In case they failed to pay the fine, they will have to undergo two extra years in jail. Zubair will undergo four years' imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs100 million and in case of failure to pay the fine, would remain in jail for one more year.

The ATC judge also ordered forfeiture of all the properties of the convicts and their families in favour of the state.

The National Accountability Bureau had filed the reference on June 2, 2005, on the directive of then SC Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqi. A Supreme Court inquiry initiated to recover a bank guarantee of Rs493 million from the IIBL, which increased to Rs634 million after markups, had recommended criminal proceedings against the accused.

The complaint had held Amin Farooqi as responsible for the Rs634 million financial scam as the amount was invested in a non-banking financial company with ulterior motives.

Mr Farooqi invested the money in connivance with the IIBL Chief Executive Officer Javed Iqbal Qureshi who later misappropriated the amount with assistance of former IIBL Director Mohammad Nadeem Anwar.

Subsequent NAB investigations also found the accused bankers involved in depriving 4,000 depositors and shareholders including the SC of about Rs 1.99 billion. The accused, all on post-arrest bail, were present in the court when the verdict was announced. After the decision, police took them to the Adiala Jail.

Accounts of ex-ABL chief de-frozen

A divisional bench of Lahore High Court comprising Justice Tariq Shamim and Justice Malik Saeed Ejaz accepted a wit petition filed by a former president Allied Bank and de-froze his accounts that were seized by an accountability court in 1998.

Syed Shaukat Ali Kazmi maintained that he was a co-accused in the reference with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and after her assassination the reference had been abated.