HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Accountability Court on Thursday sentenced a retired executive engineer of the works and services department to four years imprisonment after he was found guilty of having accumulated assets beyond his known sources of income. It also ordered confiscation of his properties.

The court, however, took a lenient view of his old age.

The convict was sent to the Nara jail after the court pronounced its verdict.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had earlier rejected his request for plea bargain arguing that the value of his assets had increased manifold today and he offered plea bargain on the basis of the old value.

According to the reference filed against him, the engineer had bought properties including 136 acres of agricultural land and a number of plots in Tando Mohammad Khan and Qasimabad between 2000 to 2011. His property was registered in the names of his wife, sons and daughters.

The old value of his assets was put at Rs4.7 million but the NAB assessed their current value at Rs80m.

His counsel Sher Mohammad Leghari had argued during the trial that sources of his assets were quite known as the agricultural land was owned by his forefathers and his sugar cane business was run by his brother.