AC Postpones Gillani's Indictment Till May 18

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Apr, 2021 ) :An Accountability Court (AC) Friday postponed again the indictment of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani till May 18, due to absence of the accused in a reference pertaining to illegal award of a publicity campaign contract.

AC-II Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Yousaf Raza Gillani could not attend the proceedings while the co-accused including Riaz Ashar and others appeared before the court.

At the outset of hearing, NAB also submitted the report to the court regarding declaring a co-accused Farooq Awan as absconder.

The court directed all the accused to ensure their presence on next date of hearing and adjourned the case.

NAB had alleged that a publicity campaign contract granted by the accused had caused a loss of Rs128 million to the national exchequer in 2011.

The reference had named Gillani, former principal information officer of the Press Information Department Muhammad Saleem, former IT ministry secretary Farooq Awan, former chief executive officer of the Universal Services Fund (USF) Riaz Asher Siddiqui, the chief executive officer of the advertising agency, USF former company secretary Syed Hasan Shikoh and former PA to PRO IT Muhammad Hanif for allegedly misusing their authority in the publicity campaign and causing the loss to the exchequer.