Indictment of former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, others deferred till August 27

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday deferred indictment of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and other accused till August 27 in a case pertaining to the alleged illegal award of government advertisement contracts.

The inducement was delayed as the former prime minister skipped today’s court appearance.

Duty Judge Tahir Mehmood said, today was fixed for the indictment of the accused in the case, all accused are present in the court excluding Gilani.

To, this NAB’s counsel apprised the court, that the former prime minister was given permanent exemption from the court appearance by the court.

The court later, adjourned the hearing of the case and fixed August 27 for the indictment of the accused.

The former prime minister and six others have been accused in the reference. They all have been provided copies of the reference.

The Supreme Court in its order had asked the accountability court to conduct hearings of the case on a daily basis in order to decide it within the stipulated time.

Ex-PM Gilani, former secretary of Information Technology Farooq Awan, former press information officer (PIO) Mohammad Saleem, former company secretary Universal Service Fund Syed Hasan Sheikh and other individuals were nominated in the corruption reference.

According to NAB, they allegedly misused their positions to illegally grant an advertising contract in contravention of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, causing a loss of Rs129.07 million.