KARACHI, Oct 15: Former Pakistan Navy chief Mansoorul Haq and another former navy officer have been charged for causing over Rs1.8 billion loss to the national exchequer in the purchase of three vessels for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.
Mr Haq and Commodore Mirza Ashfaq Baig, however, denied the charges when Judge Muhammad Jawaid Alam of the Accountability Court No. 4 formally indicted on Monday the two former naval officials in the reference No. 25/2002, sent for trial by the National Accountability Bureau.
According to the charges, Mansoorul Haq with intent to obtain undue benefits got approved the purchase of ships for the PNSC in 1994 from the then government.
It was alleged that when he was appointed chief of naval staff, he hatched a conspiracy with absconding accused and former rear admiral Javed Ali and co-accused Ashfaq Baig for the purchase of the ships on much high prices.
The three naval official were charged with violating the laid down procedure, terms of approval and purchased the ships which were not technically suitable.
Moreover, it was alleged, the purchase of ships was against the selection criteria of the board of directors and without considering the classification record of the ships, payment of customs, regulatory and other duties.
The ships were Apolonia, purchased for US$14.82 million and later renamed as Swat, Ora Bhum for US$15.55 million (Shalamar) and Independent Voyager for Us$16.77 million.
According to the charge, read out to the two accused, they both in collusion, connivance and collaboration with each other and absconding accused Javed Ali fraudulently misused their official authority to obtain undue benefits and failed to exercise their authority to prevent the losses to the exchequer, and thereby committed an offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under Section 9 of the NAB Ordinance.
After framing the charges on the two accused, the judge put off the hearing of the case till Oct 23 and ordered the prosecution to produce its witnesses on the next date of hearing.
Iqtidar Ali Hashmi appeared for Admiral Haq and Mehmood Alam Rizvi for accused Baig, who was on bail. The prosecution is being represented by special public prosecutor Sarfraz Tanoli.
KIDNAPPING CASE: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) No 3 put off till Wednesday the hearing of a kidnapping for ransom case against a couple after recording the statements of six prosecution witnesses.
Muhammed Kamran and his wife, Sher Bano, are being prosecuted for kidnapping a three-year-old boy on September 5 for ransom in New Karachi.
According to the prosecution, Mohammed Bilal Raza was playing outside his house when Kamran took him away.
The couple demanded Rs300,000 for the release of the hostage boy, who was kept at their house in Sector 11-F, in the same vicinity. They were tracked down the next day by the police while making phone calls to the hostage’s family.
Mohammed Akram, father of the kidnapped boy, Muhammed Suleman and Muhammed Siddique, uncles of Bilal, Mohammad Sadiq, operator of the public call office, Mohammed Ismail, landlord of the couple’s rented house, recorded their statements.
The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor, Naimat Ali Randhawa, would close its side on Wednesday after examining the investigation officer as its last witness.