ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: An accountability court on Tuesday extended for ten days the remand of three accused involved in a massive corruption and misappropriation case of worth Rs 185 million through local purchases in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) project initiated with the Chinese assistance.

The accountability court No III adjourned the proceedings asking the authorities to produce Raja Arshad, the Divisional Engineer Built and Operate (BT) project Islamabad, Syed Akbar Hassan Jaffery, the Director BT project Gujranwala, and Gohar Aman, Divisional Engineer BT project Peshawar, again on November 16.

The BT contract was signed between China Wanbao/ZTE and the PTCL on October 17, 1998 for the installation of 305,000 digital telephone lines in the country.

The prosecution claimed that the prices sanctioned for the purchase of various items were several times higher than the market value and made on some bogus or highly inflated rates with the intend to simply defraud the PTCL.—Staff Reporter