LAHORE, Oct 26: The Punjab National Accountability Bureau on Saturday told an accountability court that the plea bargain application of an accused in the PARCO land scam reference had been turned down.

The NAB counsel disclosed that the accused, Muzaffargarh tehsildar Muhammad Hanif, had offered to pay Rs100,000 against his liability of Rs4.3 million. The accused had shown inability to increase his offer. Since the terms offered by the accused were not acceptable to the NAB, the application had been rejected, he added.

The NAB hinted at filing a reference against the accused shortly after completing investigations against him. The court sent him on judicial remand for two weeks.

The plea bargain applications of two other accused, Laloo Khan and Muhammad Rafiq, are still pending for adjudication before the NAB chairman. Both had offered to pay Rs205,000 and Rs131,700, respectively, to the NAB.

Two accused have already been let-off by the NAB in the reference following plea bargain. Muzaffargarh tehsil Naib Nazim Khalid Waheed and his co-accused Khalid Mahmood were released after payment of Rs1 million and Rs245,000, respectively, last month.

Two tehsildars of Muzaffargarh Sajid Waheed and Pir Bakhsh are currently in the NAB custody.

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