PESHAWAR, Feb 14: Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has accepted a plea bargain of the coordinator of a Swiss-funded project.

The official was arrested on the request of the Swiss government, for swindling scheme’s funds.

NAB’s Additional Deputy Prosecutor General Haider Ali informed an accountability court here on Friday that Abdul Manan, who was project coordinator of the Small Scale Enterprise Promotion Project, would pay Rs6,00,000 to the bureau for his release.

Mr Ali told the court that the accused had paid Rs2,00,000 in advance and would pay rest of the amount after his release.

The coordinator was arrested on Nov 21 last after the NAB conducted an initial inquiry into the accusations. The court had already issued a non-bailable arrest warrant of the absconded project Director Fasihuz Zaman, a prime accused in the case.

The Swiss envoy in Islamabad had requested the NAB in July last to begin a probe into the misappropriation of around Rs30 million funds by the officials appointed to execute the plan, funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Abdul Manan was responsible for controlling accounts of the project’s regional offices at Peshawar, Mingora and Rawalpindi. He was alleged for making monthly advances more than the amount actually received by the offices. The NAB also found out that summary sheets of the expenses were fabricated to support those additional money claims and that various bills were amended or additional bills were concocted. In this way, Mr Manan misappropriated around Rs8 million.

The project was initiated within the framework of an Agreement on Technical and Scientific Cooperation between the Swiss and Pakistani governments. The programme was formed initially for three years (1995-97), but later was extended to 2000.