PESHAWAR, Jan 4: An accountability court on Friday acquitted an absconding inspector of Federal Investigation Agency, Alamzaib Khan, after the National Accountability Bureau withdrew the case against him.

The court, presided over by Syed Yahya Zahid Gillani, had started proceedings for convicting the accused in absentia under Section 31-A of the NAB Ordinance, 1999. Under the section an accused could be sentenced in absentia to three years imprisonment for absconding.

The accused had disappeared after his arrest warrants were issued by the NAB chairman in October, last year. NAB sources claimed he had gone to the United States to avoid arrest.

The additional deputy prosecutor-general of NAB, Haider Ali, stated that NAB had decided to withdraw the case.

He stated that after investigation the bureau’s officials came to know that the accused had not amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He said the accused had not committed any act which amounted to corruption. The chairman had issued his arrest warrants after receiving initial  reports that the accused possessed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The investigation officer, Shamsur Rehman, claimed that nothing could be found against the accused.