LAHORE, Sept 30: An accountability court trying former commerce minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar on misuse of authority charges issued bailable arrest warrants of Rs10,000 for a director-general of the Textile Quota Management Directorate (TQMD) for his absence from Monday’s proceedings.

The court was informed by the NAB counsel that Karachi TQMD director-general Abdul Malik, who was supposed to testify against Ahmad Mukhtar as prosecution witness, had not turned up despite having been summoned by the court on the last hearing. The court issued orders to police officials concerned to produce Mr Malik before it on the next hearing.

This was for the second time that the court had issued bailable arrest warrants for Malik. In July, he had also failed to comply with the court summons. His partial testimony had already been recorded. —Reporter