A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Monday directed the lawyer for National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to come prepared on the next hearing to plead four corruption references against former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.
When the bench took up NAB’s appeals against the acquittal of Aftab Sherpao in four corruption references by the Peshawar High Court, as well as a Supreme Court bench headed by former de-facto chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, NAB’s counsel sought adjournment, saying he was not informed about the fixation of the case for Monday and was, therefore, not prepared to argue it. The court adjourned proceedings until September 29.
Earlier in July 2008, a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf and Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali had dismissed NAB’s appeals and acquitted Sherpao in four corruption references by giving benefit of the National Reconciliation Ordinance 2007 (NRO). Aftab Sherpao, who also served as the NWFP chief minister, was convicted by the accountability court in the famous Hayatabad Plot Allotment Case on December 31, 1999, but his appeal was later accepted by the PHC which acquitted him. Consequently, NAB came into appeal before the apex court against the acquittal.
The charge against Aftab Sherpao was that being a chief minister he abused his discretion by illegally allotting plots in Hayatabad Township Scheme. He was also acquitted in another reference pertaining to illegal appointments in the frontier education department. He was also accused of inflicting a loss of Rs 310.067 million to the state exchequer by fraudulently fixing compensation of the land acquired for the ring road project at inflated rates.
