Lok Virsa corruption ref: AC to indict PPP senator on Aug 2

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court-I (AC-I) Tuesday set August 2 to indict the PPP Senator Rubina Khalid and others in Lok Virsa corruption reference.

During hearing, Senator Rubina Khalid’s lawyer told Judge Muhammad Bashir that his client was unable to appear before the court being sick and sought one-day exemption for her appearance, which was accepted.

The court adjourned the hearing and directed all the accused to ensure their appearance on the next date of hearing.

Rubina Khalid and others were accused of allegedly plundering Rs30.13 million of Lok Virsa funds.

The NAB had nominated Rubina, former executive director of Lok Virsa Mazharul Islam, chief executive director of Cosmos Production Pvt Ltd in the Self Generated Fund (SGF) of Lok Virsa Dr Tabinda Zafar and Muhammad Shafi as accused.

The reference states that the accused had committed the “offense of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under Section 9 (a), (VI) and (XII) punishable u/s 10 of [National Accountability Ordinance (NAO)] 1999.”

The NAB said during investigation, it was established that Mazhar-u-Islam had misused his authority and illegally extended the contracts in favor of Cosmos Production “in connivance with” Senator Rubina Khalid and Dr Zafar.

Additionally, the NAB said Senator Rubina Khalid and Dr Zafar had “gained illegal benefits by getting extension of the agreement without calling fresh tenders/without any competition and also failed to deposit 50 per cent profit earned by them causing a loss of Rs30.13 million to the national exchequer.