First lady’s acquittal plea rejected

KARACHI: An accountability court on Saturday dismissed the acquittal applications submitted by the country’s first lady, Fauzia Yousuf Gilani, wife of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, and others in two corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau.

Five accused — Fouzia Yousuf Gilani, Ziaur Rehman, Khalid Hussain, Nasreen Munawar Chaudhry and Syeda Samina Abrar — who were the then directors of the Pakistan Green Fertiliser Limited, have been charged with obtaining a financial facility of Rs71.163 million from the Agricultural Development Bank in 1987. However, they allegedly did not return the money.

The same set of accused were also booked in another corruption reference regarding securing of over Rs100 million from the Agricultural Development Bank for the Multan Edible Oil Extraction Limited, but they allegedly failed to return the money.

They had filed their acquittal applications under Section 265-K of the criminal procedure code. However, Judge Farooq Ali Channa of the Accountability Court-I dismissed their applications after hearing both sides.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/26/2009