The Sindh High Court has rejected the NAB appeal against the acquittal of former HR director of National Bank, Bangladesh branch, in a $185 million corruption case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The Sindh High Court rejected the anti-graft watchdog’s appeal against the exoneration of Kausar Iqbal, ex-HR director NBP, Bangladesh branch, after declaring it non-maintainable.
The court expressed its annoyance over the filing of the appeal by the anti-corruption body remarking that ‘the NAB prosecutor even doesn’t bother to look into the worth of the appeal’.
The prosecutor told the court that the accused incurred $185 million loss to the national exchequer and the amount if converted into Pakistani currency would be Rs18.5 billion.
Sixteen people including former NBP president Ali Raza were nominated in the reference.
Ali Raza and ex-executive vice president Zubair Ahmad had already got bails in the reference. Whereas, Tahir Yaqoob, Qamar Hussain and other high officials were declared absconders in the case.
The NAB said that six Bangladeshis including Saleem Ullah, Pradeep Gain, Qazi Nizam and others were also declared proclaimed offenders.
According to the NAB reference, the accused issued unnecessary loans in violation of laws and by misusing their authority and they committed fraud in different branches of the NBP in Bangladesh.
Reporter Bilal Ahmad