Supreme Court acquits former chief secretary KP in NAB reference

The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted former chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Khalid Aziz in a NAB reference, filed on the basis of assets accumulation beyond his known means. A three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jafri acquitted Khalid Aziz, former chief secretary KP, in a NAB reference.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had charged Aziz with misusing his authority while he was additional chief secretary of the KP. The court arrested him in 1999 and sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment besides confiscating Rs 50 million on June 21, 2000. He filed an appeal in Peshawar High Court which reduced his sentence to two-year with a fine of Rs 3.8 million.
Wasim Sajjad, counsel for Khalid Aziz contended that his client was implicated in a case in which he had no role. He told the court that the bank accounts claimed to have been managed by his client were held by a company. Meanwhile, on another appeal of Abdul Rauf against NAB reference, a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Ghulam Rabbani said that it would not be appropriate to intervene in the matter as it was pending with the accountability court. Let the accountability court dispose of the case expeditiously, the bench said.
A reference was filed by NAB in 2002 against Rauf for alleged misappropriation of public money and corruption. His counsel contended that the reference was filed in connivance with NAB officials and Tariq Mughal, a respondent, as they had some property business rivalry.
He said the petitioner had moved a civil suit in the Lahore High Court, which disposed of the plea with observation that he could approach the proper forum. Upon bench's inquiry, he replied that seven years had passed in inquiry and the case was now pending with the accountability court where at least 36 witnesses had appeared.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry observed that how could they intervene in the matter when such a number of witnesses were involved. He said they would not create prejudice against anyone and told the counsel to let the trial court deal with issue first.