KARACHI, Nov 16: An accountability court put off on Friday the hearing of a corruption reference against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and others after recording the statements of three co-accused.

The reference against Ms Bhutto pertained to 1,393 illegal appointments and promotions in different cadres and postings abroad in violation of existing rules, regulations and procedure during her second tenure as prime minister.

Judge Mohammed Jawaid Alam of the AC-4 fixed Nov 26 for hearing of the case after recording the statements of Ms Naheed Khan, former political secretary to Ms Bhutto, Air Vice Marshal Umer Farooq (retd), former chief of PIA, and Ghulam Qadir Shah Jamote, a former PIA director.

Accused Najmul Hasan, a former PIA official, however did not record his statement and filed an application for his acquittal through his counsel.

All the five accused, including the former prime minister, are on bail.

The counsel for Ms Bhutto appeared in the court to inform that his client had instructed him to not give any statement on her behalf and that she wanted to record her statement herself.

However, the judge in his order observed that the court had nothing but to presume that accused Benazir Bhutto had nothing to say under section 342 of CrPC, a provision of law empowering court to examine accused at any stage of any inquiry or trial “for the purpose of enabling the accused to explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him or her.”

The court had earlier dismissed the application of Ms Bhutto, seeking the suspension of proceedings of a corruption reference against her till her return to the country.

The reference was transferred to the accountability court on Feb 3 by the Ehtesab Bench of the Sindh High Court, which was earlier hearing the reference.