Illegal ads contracts: NAB court adjourns hearing till Jan 12

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad has adjourned the hearing of illegal ads contracts case against former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and others till January 12, ARY News reported on Monday.

The accountability court heard the case against former premier Yousaf Raza Gillani and others related to awarding illegal advertisement contracts.

The NAB prosecutor Usman Masood appeared before the court in today’s hearing. The counsels of two accused submitted exemption from personal appearance to the court and two remained absent in today’s hearing.

The judge directed assuring presence of all accused in the next hearing. Later, the hearing was adjourned till January 12.

Read: Illegal ads contracts: NAB seeks rejection of acquittal plea of ex-PM Gillani

In the previous hearing on November 27, the court had rejected the acquittal pleas of co-accused namely, Saleem Farooq, Syed Hassan and Riyaz in the case.

The AC judge had directed former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other co-accused to appear before the court on the next hearing of the reference on December 21 for indictment.

Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had approved filing corruption references against former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others for their alleged involvement in illegally awarding an advertising contract in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules.

The other accused in the case included former secretary Information Technology Farooq Awan, former principal information officer Muhammad Saleem, Syed Hassan Sheikh, Inam Akbar, and other officials of the Ministry of Information Technology, who allegedly misused their authority which caused a loss of Rs128.07 million to the national exchequer