LAHORE, Dec 12: An accountability court on Thursday issued notice to the NAB on the applications of two executive directors of the Khyber Tractor Ltd (KTL) for their pre-mature acquittal in two references.

Khalid Sharif and Asif Sharif submitted in their applications, filed under Section 265-K of the Cr PC, that they had been implicated in the two reference and they had no involvement in the scam.

They submitted that the company was not in a position to make payments to the government as a result of withdrawal of tax exemption on foreign made tractors under the SRO 388.

The accused pleaded that it were the government policies which forced the company to default in payments to its buyers who had made down payments because the customs department had refused to release the tractors to the company following the default.

The accused argued that they were not the custodian of both the tractors imported from Poland and the payments in advance received from the applicants so they should be released forthwith.

The first reference alleges that KTL advertised booking of Ursus 2312 tractors in local press with a quoted price of Rs230,000 each and demanded an advance payment of Rs70,000 against every booking.

Some 1,430 people applied for the delivery and an amount of Rs270.53 million was deposited to the credit of the company.

More than 740 applicants, who had made the payments in advance, were neither given any tractor nor their money — amounting to Rs84 million — was reimbursed by the accused.