ISLAMABAD: Accountability Court of Islamabad on Tuesday closed the reference in Narowal Sports City (NSC) corruption in which incumbent Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, former director general Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Akhtar Nawaz Ghanjer and others were nominated as accused.

Ahsan Iqbal, however, had already been acquitted in this case in Sept 2022 by a division bench of the Islamabad High Court comprising the then Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has submitted an application to withdraw the reference.

Accountability judge Nasir Javed Rana accepted the application and the reference was closed subsequently. As a result, the ex-DG PSB Ghanjera, assistant engineer Sarfraz Rasool were acquitted in this reference.

In the reference filed in November 2020, the accountability watchdog accused Ahsan Iqbal of misusing authority by funding a provincial government project — Narowal Sports City — in his constituency and illegally increasing its scope from Rs34.75 million to Rs3 billion.

According to the prosecution, the Central Develop­ment Working Party (CDWP), headed by Mr Iqbal, had initially approved the Narowal project at a cost of Rs34.74 million in 1999. The same year on his “illegal” directive to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the National Engineering Ser­vices Pakistan, the project’s scope was enhanced to Rs97.52m.

Subsequently, the project was shelved, but it was resumed in 2009 at a cost of Rs732 million. The project was later devolved to the provincial government after the passage of the 18th Amendment.

The bureau also accused Iqbal that he had misused the authority to enhance the scope of the project and managed its execution through the federal government, instead of the provincial government.

IHC in its decision of acquitting Iqbal in the reference observed that NAB also cited “inordinate delay in execution of the project” but it did not investigate who was responsible for delaying the project from 2000 to 2010.

The court also noted that the investigating officer did not probe the officials of the Punjab government over the transfer of the project from the provincial to the federal government.

While granting Iqbal in this reference, IHC noted: “Mere allegations of misuse of authority would not justify depriving an accused of liberty because an irregularity or wrong decision sans criminal intent and illegal gain or benefit does not attract the offences under the Ordinance of 1999 [NAO].”

The accused in the reference took the stance that the approvals for the project were granted by various forums, including the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and National Economic Council (NEC). The Public Sector Development Programme was approved by the National Assembly and there was no allegation of corruption or corrupt practice.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024