First hearing of graft case against ex-PM Gilani, six others set for 26th

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Friday issued a summon to former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to appear before it on Sept 26 in a Rs128 million corruption case.

Moreover, notices have also been issued to six others accused in the case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a corruption reference against Gilani, former principal information officer (PIO) Muhammad Saleem, former information secretary Farooq Awan and others for running an illegal publicity campaign and inflicting a loss of Rs128 million to the national exchequer.

Others accused in the case are former Universal Services Fund (USF) CEO Riaz Asher Siddiqui, former of Midas Inam Akbar and Muhammad Hanif.

As per details, former PM Gilani directed officials to run a media campaign for highlighting the achievements of USF. Former secretary Farooq Awan misused his authority in the award of illegal publicity campaign through Midas Pvt Ltd against rules and attempted to cause loss to national exchequer.

The accused persons in connivance with each other caused a loss to the national exchequer to the tune of Rs128 million approximately.

A day earlier, NAB had approved action against Defence Minister Pervez Khatak, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar.

NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal presided over an executive board session, in which he gave approval for inquiry for 14 different cases.

According to an official notification, the authority gave approval for inquiry against Khattak, however, no details were given.

The notification had stated that approval for action against several others was also given, including famous industrialist Iqbal Z Ahmed.

The session also approved the filing of reference against Vice-Chancellor Abdulwali Khan University Dr Ahsan Ali and former KP minister Nawabzada Mahmood Zeb.

NAB had also approved the filing of reference against former Balochistan food minister Izhar Hussain.

The NAB chairman had said that solving mega corruption cases is the priority and they are following the policy of “accountability for everyone”.