Assets beyond sources of income case: AC defers indictment of ex-DG parks Karachi till 10th

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court, on Thursday, deferred indictment of the former Director General Parks and Horticulture, Karachi, Liaqat Ali Khan Qaimkhani, in assets beyond known source of income case till June 10th.

The Accountability Court-III judge, Syed Ashgar Ali, while hearing the case, deferred framing of charge against Qaimkhani till June 10th and directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce clear and readable photocopies of some of the documents, which have been part of the reference.

The NAB prosecutor, Waseem Javed, investigation officer of anti-graft body appeared before the court. Barrister Umair Malik appeared before the court on behalf of the accused, Qaimkhani.

The defence counsel, while arguing before the court over his client’s application, said that the NAB has attached some unsigned documents with the reference and it should be brought on court record.

At this, the judge said that the court will return these documents to the NAB and after correction they will submit before the court.

How can these documents be returned to the NAB after numbering of pages of the reference, the counsel questioned?

The judge told the defence counsel that there is no problem in returning of document as they will correct and bring it back and your objection has also come on record.

The counsel said that he never observed during the court proceedings that new documents would be filed instead of documents earlier attached with the reference. Our objection should be brought on court record, the defence counsel said.

The counsel said that the photocopies of the documents related to properties attached with the reference were also not clear and unreadable.

The court adjourned the case till June 10th and directed the NAB to produced readable copies of the document in question during the next hearing. According to the NAB Rawalpindi, the investigation revealed that Qaimkhani joined government service in 1977 as assistant director (BPS-17) in Garden Directorate of Parks and Horticulture and was subsequently posted in Parks Department.

He was given the charge of Deputy Director in 1987 and was promoted to BPS-18 in 1990. He was promoted to BPS-19 in 1994 as his service of BPS-18 was considered from 1987 after the issuance of an order. He was promoted to BPS-20 in 2003, and retired in 2011 as DG Parks and Horticulture in Grade-21.

The accused was interrogated by the NAB regarding his known sources of income and assets acquired by him. However, the accused did not provide details of the same.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021