IHC dismisses NAB appeal against acquittal of Babar Awan

ISLAMABAD: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed the appeals of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against acquittal of Dr. Babr Awan in Nandipur Power Project and upheld the decision of trial court.

The court also turned down the decision of trial court for rejecting the acquittal plea of former secretary Masood Chishti.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Atharmanullah and Justice Babar Sattar conducted hearing on NAB appeals against acquittal of Advisor to the Prime Minister Babar Awan and former secretary Riaz Kiyani in the Nandipur reference.

The verdict was reserved on October 5, after listening arguments from both sides. Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik had acquitted Babar Awan and Riaz Kiayni on June 25, last year and dismissed the acquittal plea of Masood Chishti in Nandipur case. NAB had challenged the acquittal of the accused before IHC.

Meanwhile, an accountability court judge Syed Asghar Ali adjourned hearing against Shumaila Mahmood and others in the Nandipur reference at the request of lawyers.

During hearing, the defence lawyers requested to adjourn the hearing of the reference till the appeals were decided by IHC in Nandipur case.

They said that there was no allegation of corruption in the reference, to which the court said that they had given these arguments in the acquittal petitions, no need to repeat it.

The lawyer said that the decision of the high court in this case will affect the whole trial to this the court said that we couldn’t stop the trial. The court, however, adjourned the case till January 27.