LAHORE, Sept 27: An accountability court on Thursday acquitted former federal minister Ahmad Mukhtar and former chief secretary Brig Aslam Hayat Qureshi (retired) of a corruption reference.

Mukhtar and co-accused Qureshi were accused of causing the national exchequer a Rs131.7 million loss by violating textile quota rules. They moved separate applications for acquittal in the case lodged against them in 1997 under the Ehtesab Act 1997. The case was transferred to an accountability court in 1999.