LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday denied the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) further custody of former principal secretary to chief minister Muhammad Khan Bhatti and sent him to jail on judicial remand in a case of receiving kickbacks in approval of development schemes.
The NAB produced Bhatti before the court on expiry of his previous five-day physical remand.
The investigating officer asked the court for a further extension in the remand of the suspect to complete the investigation.
A counsel on behalf of the suspect opposed the remand saying the NAB had not presented any incriminating evidence againsthis client. He said there was no reason to allow further custody to the bureau.
Judge Naseem Ahmad Virk turned down the bureau`s request and sentthe suspectto jail on judicial remand till Sept 25.
Bhatti faced charges of misuse of authority and receiving kickbacks of over Rsibn against the approval of more than 116 development schemes for Gujrat division.
The NAB alleged that the suspect manoeuvred the award of contracts in favour of `blue-eyed` contractors in connivance with other suspects including officials of government departments.
It said the suspect released full payment to the contractors even before the commencement of construction work only to re ceive kickbacks.
The bureau further stated thatthe money from the corruption committed by Bhatti had been transferred into the bank accounts of former chief minister Parvez Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi.
LHC: The caretaker government of Punjab on Monday told the Lahore High Court that AntiCorruption E stablishment (ACE) registered 12 cases of alleged corruption against Muhammad Khan Bhatti.
A law officer submitted a report on behalf of the government during the hearing of a petition of Bhatti seeking details of all cases registered against him by different agencies.
Justice Mirza vigas Rauf adjourned further hearing till Sept 21 and directed a federal law officer to submit reports on behalf of the FIA and NAB as well.
The judge turned down a request of the petitioner`s coun-sel to issue a stay order against thefuturearrestofthepetitioner in any case.
Earlier, the counsel argued that a number of cases had been registered against the petitioner but only on political consideration. He said every time a new case was registered whenever the petitioner was released in a previous case.
Bhatti, who is on judicial remand in several cases of alleged corruption, is a BS-22 officer and had been working on different high positions including the secretary of Punjab Assembly.
The ACE registered multiple cases of alleged misappropriation in the development funds and misuse of authority against the former principal secretary, who is believed to be a confidant of former chief minister Parvez Elahi.
