LAHORE, April 5: An accountability court on Thursday awarded seven-year imprisonment and fined Rs2 million to Amjad Husain Sandal, a former land acquisition collector who is the main accused in the Parco land scam reference. The court also disqualified him from participating in elections, holding any public office or obtaining loans from financial institutions for 10 years under Section 15-C.

The court observed that the time spent by the convict in jail while being tried would be counted in his sentence in accordance with Section 382-B of CrPC.

The court, however, acquitted his co-accused Farid Bakhsh Patwari.

Sandal had already been convicted in three references. He and Javed were accused of embezzling Rs6.7 million from the Pak-Arab Refinery Company. The convicts’ co-accused Rasheed Ahmad was released after brokering a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau on Nov 14, 2005. Rasheed paid Rs690,000 to the NAB after which the court ordered his release.