LAHORE, Oct 16: The National Accountability Bureau on Wednesday arrested another tehsildar on corruption charges in Parco land scam reference.

Sajid Waheed, a tehsildar of Muzaffargarh and the brother of Muzaffargarh tehsil Naib Nazim Khalid Waheed (already let-off in the same reference following plea bargain), was produced before the court by NAB authorities for getting his physical custody.

The NAB alleged that Sajid had procured a pecuniary advantage of Rs1 million while making excessive payments to Parco land affectees in Muzaffargarh in abuse of his official position.

The accused informed the court that he was willing to settle the account with NAB.

The prosecution, however, submitted that a verbal consent to pay off the amount had no recognition in the eyes of the NAB law. As further argued by the NAB, the accused would have to move a formal application under Section 25-A of the NAB Ordinance for plea bargain after pleading guilty to the charges which was a must condition for plea bargain.

The court sent him to the NAB custody for two weeks with directions to fulfil legal formalities in this regard. The court also extended the remand of co-accused tehsildar Muhammad Hanif till Oct 30.

Two accused have been let-off by the NAB in this reference following plea bargain, while the applications of another two are lying pending before the NAB chairman for final consideration. Muzaffargarh tehsil Naib Nazim Khalid Waheed and Khalid Mahmood were released last month following the payment of Rs1 million and Rs245,000, respectively.

Accused Laloo Khan and Muhammad Rafiq have also paid Rs205,000 and Rs131,700, respectively, and their applications for plea bargain have been forwarded to the NAB chairman.

Tehsildar Pir Bakhsh and Muhammad Hanif are in NAB custody. As alleged by the prosecution, the accused made excessive payments to the affectees against pecuniary advantage by violating the allowed limit for such payments and thus caused a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

SUMMONED: An accountability court on Wednesday resummoned prosecution witnesses for next hearing in a wilful default reference against former Punjab Cooperatives secretary Javed Iqbal Bukhari and defunct Services Cooperative Credit Corporation Limited’s general manager Ejaz Ahmad Awan. The court which was to record the prosecution evidence against the two accused was informed that the witnesses made bound for Wednesday’s proceedings on the last hearing could not turn up as the summons could not be served on them.

As alleged in the reference, Mr Bukhari with the abetment of Ejaz Awan got a loan of Rs23.986 million sanctioned from the SCCCL in violation of rules in 1987 to be paid off in 1991. However, after the matter was referred to the NAB, he struck a deal with the NAB and the Cooperative Board for repayment of the loan in instalments earlier this year.

It has been alleged that the accused defaulted in the payment of remaining amount after having paid the first instalment. As a result of continuing default, the total amount of remaining outstanding loan against the accused has been calculated to be Rs91.26 million, inclusive of mark-up.

Ejaz Awan has already been convicted by an accountability court to 14-year rigorous imprisonment and Rs5 million fine in a reference pertaining to misappropriation of SCCCL funds.