LAHORE – An accountability court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a reference filed against former WAPDA and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Lieutenant General (r) Zahid Ali Akbar until April 14.
Earlier, Zahid’s relatives’ counsel sought time to file the reply of two petitions filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). A reference has been filed against the former WAPDA chairman accusing him of making illegal assets worth billions of rupees in name of his relatives. Due to non-appearance, the court had declared him as an absconder in his absence and the process of attachment of the property of the accused was in progress.
Some relatives of the accused, including his son, had filed applications against the attachment of Zahid’s property. NAB had raised some objections on the application filed by the former WAPDA chairman’s relatives.
Separately, an accountability court directed the Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent to provide all facilities according to the jail manual to former Bank of Punjab (BoP) president Hamesh Khan, accused of being involvement in the Rs 12 billion BoP loan scam. Hamesh filed an application submitting that the Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent is not providing him the facilities he is entitled to. The court also adjourned the case’s hearing until April 18. US national Hamesh is accused of issuing loans worth billions of rupees to his friends on fake and forged documents.
Also on Tuesday, an accountability court framed charge against Postal Clerks Muhammad Ghaffar and Haji Allahditta, allegedly involved in embezzling Rs 0.3 million from the funds of the Food Support Programme of the Pakistan Baitul Maal.
The accused, while working in 2002-05 at Shujaabad, Multan caused a loss worth Rs 0.3 million to the national exchequer by either making less payments or payments to ghost beneficiaries out of grants entrusted to the post office by the Pakistan Baitul Maal under the Food Support Programme.
The accused have denied the charges. The court adjourned the reference’s hearing until April 15 while summoning the prosecution’s evidence for further proceedings.
