LAHORE, Jan 23: An Ehtesab appellate bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday allowed an appeal of former Punjab chief minister Manzoor Wattoo against his 10-year disqualification from public office.

Setting aside the disqualification orders, the bench sent three NAB references against Mr Wattoo back to the accountability court for retrial.

The bench observed that the argument as to whether Mr Wattoo could be declared disqualified from public office under the NAB Act 1999 while references against him had been filed under Ehtesab Ordinance 1997, required detailed scrutiny in the trial court.

Mr Wattoo had argued that he could not be declared disqualified from public office under the NAB Ordinance since he was tried under the Ehtesab Act 1997 which did not prescribe any such punishment for an accused making a plea bargain.

An accountability court had disqualified the former chief minister from public office under Section 15 of the NAB Ordinance, after he had deposited the allegedly misused Rs10.07 million to NAB’s credit under a plea bargain. The court had observed that any accused making a plea bargain would be considered a convict and disqualified from the membership of a provincial or the National Assembly.