PESHAWAR, May 15: Accepting an appeal of a former food and grain inspector, Mohammad Hayat Khan and his two brothers, an accountability appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court set aside here on Wednesday their conviction by an accountability court.

The bench, comprising Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi and Justice Qaim Jan Khan, acquitted the three accused and ruled that the prosecution had failed to put forward substantive evidence against the appellants, which could prove that they had accumulated wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Mohammad Hayat Khan was convicted on Aug 10, 2001, by an accountability court, presided over by Syed Yahya Zahid Gillani, and was sentenced to 5 years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs33.705 million and forfeiture of his landed property to state. His two brothers, Gul Tayyaz and Mohammad Iqbal, were sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs0.1 million each. The court had also disqualified them from holding any public office for a period of 10 years in terms of section 15 of the NAB Ordinance 1999.

Advocate M.Sardar Khan appeared for the appellants whereas special prosecutor Ziaur Rehman represented the government.

In its 125 pages verdict, the bench observed that the evidence was not strong enough to convict the appellants. It was added that the trial court and the prosecution had not placed on record the income of the appellants. Moreover, it was observed that the appellants had provided complete account of their earnings through which they had acquired the properties in question, which was ignored by the trial court.