Former PSM acting chairman among five acquitted in corruption case

An accountability court on Thursday acquitted five people, including a former acting chairman of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), in an eight-year old case pertaining to Rs38 million corruption.

The accountability court-IV judge Suresh Kumar exonerated the 2008 acting PSM chairman Sameen Asghar and four private contractors Asghar Jamil Rizvi, Mehmood, Tariq Irshad and Abbas Ali Amreliwala of charges of corruption in the purchase of steel.

Asghar was accused of evading markup on the sale of steel items to the contractors under the guise of an expired scheme, causing a loss of Rs38 million to the PSM. The judge later observed that the prosecution failed to prove the charges.

According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the contractors purchased steel items under a free credit scheme introduced by its management on October 20, 2008. The scheme waived off 1.25 per cent markup on the sale. It said that although the scheme had ended on November 20, 2008, Asghar still allowed the delivery of items on the same rate to the co-accused.

The anti-graft watchdog had filed the reference against the accused in 2012, after the relevant inquiries were transferred to it from the Federal Investigation Agency. NAB had maintained that the collusion of the accused caused a loss to the national exchequer.

Pronouncing the verdict that had been reserved on a previous hearing, the judge observed that the prosecution could not bring on record any sufficient material to prove the offence on the accused. The defence had maintained that the purchase was actually made within the stipulated time.