BISP corruption case: AC rejects Farzana Raja’s plea for video link proceeding

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) on Monday rejected the request of former chairman Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Farzana Raja, seeking case proceeding through video link and instructed all accused to appear in person in the NAB reference.

The court said that it would initiate the process to declare the accused as proclaimed offender if she fails to appear in person for indictment. AC-III Judge Syed Asghar Ali heard the reference filed by NAB pertaining to corruption in funds of BISP during the tenure of PPP.

Farzana Raja's lawyer contended that her client was staying abroad and was not able to appear due to Covid-19 outbreak. She had to stay in 14-day quarantine if she had to go back, he said. The court said that how it could start trial proceeding through video link when the accused had no intention to appear in person.

The judge expressed annoyance over absence of the all accused and recalled that in the last hearing it had instructed them to ensure the attendance. The defence lawyer prayed to court to postpone the indictment for now and give a new date for it so that all accused could appear. Later the court adjourned the case till June 7.

In March last year, NAB filed a reference against alleged corruption in the BISP. Under the supervision of Farzana Raja, a discrepancy of Rs 4.8 billion was discovered for the year 2012-13 owing to the awarding of unlawful contracts based on unfair practices.