Arrest warrants issued for accused in BISP corruption reference

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday issued bailable arrest warrants for four accused over non-appearance in a case related to alleged corruption in Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).

The case was taken up by AC Judge Syed Asghar Ali. NAB Prosecutor Muhammad Waseem appeared before the court, while accused namely, Saeeda Baloch, Saleem Khalid, Iffat Zehra and Shoaib Khan skipped today’s hearing.

The court showing resentment over the non-appearance of the accused issued bailable arrest warrants for the aforesaid accused and adjourned the hearing till November 30.

NAB Rawalpindi bureau filed the reference against Farzana Raja and other accused

. Ms. Raja remained chairperson of the BISP from the year 2008 to 2013 during the tenure of the Pakistan People’s Party government.

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The reference comprised of 32 volumes has been sent to the Registrar Office for scrutiny, in which overall 19 persons have been made party.

The Executive Board of NAB had approved the filing of reference against former chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme Ms Farzana Raja and others in a meeting in December last year.