AC to indict Rubina Khalid, others on July 23 in Lok Virsa corruption case

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court to indict Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Rubina Khalid and other co-accused on July 23, in Lok Virsa corruption reference, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi on July 1, had filed reference against Rubina Khalid.

AC Judge Muhammad Bashir heard the reference, in which Rubina Khalid, Mazhar Islam, Tabinda Zaffar and Muhammad Shafi appeared before the court.

The accused were provided copies of the reference, filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Rubina Khalid and other named in the reference are accused of causing loss of over rs 30 million to the national exchequer.

According to the bureau, the evidence that was collected during the investigation had established that the accused had committed the “offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under Section 9 (a), (VI) and (XII) punishable u/s 10 of [National Accountability Ordinance (NAO)] 1999.”

The accountability body had said that during the investigation, it was established that Mazharul Islam had misused his authority and illegally extended the contracts in favour of Cosmos Production “in connivance with” Senator Khalid and Dr Zafar.

In a meeting of the NAB’s executive board that was presided over by NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal in November 2018 had approved investigations against various persons including Senator Khalid.