PHC issues contempt of court notice to NAB

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued a contempt of court notice to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for non-compliance with the court order on submission of plea bargain application of Raza Ali in the accountability court.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan issued the notice to chairman and Director General of NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They were directed to explain position for non-compliance with the court order on January 29 (Thursday).
Raza Ali, a close relative of former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti, had filed the contempt of court petition against the NAB. The petitioner’s lawyer, Umar Farooq Adam, submitted before the bench that the court had on January 12, 2015 directed the NAB chairman to submit plea bargain application of Raza Ali in the accountability court within three days. The accountability court was asked to decide it within seven days.
He submitted the NAB to submit the plea bargain application of Raza Ali. The Bureau submitted an objection application in the accountability court. It claimed the mortgaged property of the accused was insufficient.
The counsel submitted the property was mortgaged by the NAB after thorough examination. He said his client had paid 50 percent amount in cash. For the remaining 50 percent, he mortgaged his properties. The NAB, he said, was reluctant to submit the plea bargain application in the accountability court for approval.
Earlier, Raza Ali had filed the writ petition in the high court seeking his release after paying 50 percent money of his plea bargain with the NAB that is Rs112 million, while his properties of Rs 130 million was mortgaged to the NAB.
He submitted that the NAB chairman had accepted his plea bargain on December 19, 2014 and even after paying 50 percent money the NAB KP did not submit the plea bargain application in the accountability court for approval.
Raza Ali, brother-in-law of Ameer Ghazan Hoti, was arrested by the NAB in the weapons procurement scam in the KP Police Department after the judicial statement of Arshad Majeed, a private contractor and principal accused, who turned approver in the scam and named him for providing Rs195 million to him for onward payment to Ghazan Hoti, brother of former chief minister.
He stated that Raza Ali was a front man of Ghazan Hoti and he also received Rs3 million from him as kickback. A former IGP Malik Naveed and Amir Ghazan Hoti, the brother of former chief minister Amir Haider Hoti, were also arrested in the case. Both are behind the bars.NAB said the contract was worth Rs7 billion of which Rs2.03 billion was embezzled in the shape of kickbacks.