GILGIT, Oct 25: The regional accountability judge of the Northern Areas, Justice Sher Afzal, on Thursday sentenced Pervez Iqbal, former general-manager of Pak-China Trade, to 14 years’ imprisonment and awarded a penalty of Rs270 million. The judge ordered confiscation of his movable and immovable property.

According to sources, Iqbal was involved in embezzlements and misuse of authority being the head of Pak-China Trade that ended up in bankruptcy, as thousands of its creditors lost their shares in the corporation.

They said that before 1996, the corporation had been a profitable firm that had returned 42 per cent profits on shares, but gross embezzlements had brought the firm to its knees.

The trial of the case began four years ago when Iqbal was arrested in Rawalpindi. During the trial of the case, the management sacked around 42 permanent employees of the firm.