ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Monday issued non-bailable arrest warrants of a suspect, former secretary of the ministry of information technology (IT) Farooq Awan, in a case about illegal issuance of tenders of government advertisements that also involves former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.
The former civil servant is accused of involvement in an illegal publicity campaign that allegedly caused a loss of Rs128 million to the national exchequer in 2011.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
NAB prosecutor Usman Masood appeared before the court, whereas, the counsels for Gillani, former personal assistant (PA) to the public relations officer (PRO) of IT secretary Muhammad Hanif, former principal information officer (PIO) Muhammad Saleem submitted their exemption requests.
However, the other counsels did not appear in the hearing due to a lawyers’ strike in Islamabad.
The court issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Awan due to his prolonged absence.
The court subsequently adjourned the hearing until March 30.
NAB Rawalpindi had filed the reference in the accountability court Gillani; Saleem; Awan; Riaz Asher Siddiqui, former chief executive officer (CEO), Universal Services Fund (USF); Inam Akbar, CEO of Midas; Syed Hasan Shikoh, former company secretary, USF and Hanif over misuse of authority in the illegal publicity campaign through Midas and attempt to cause loss to the national exchequer.
According to NAB, Gillani, being the minister for IT and as the chairman of the Universal Services Fund (USF), had directed for running a media campaign to highlight achievements of the body.
Awan misused his authority in the award of illegal publicity campaign through Midas against rules and attempted to cause a loss to the national exchequer.
Akbar, the CEO of Midas, allegedly violated the Press Information Department (PID) instructions and prescribed procedures regarding media campaigns and undertook the entire electronic media campaign without getting any written orders (release order) either from the ministry of information technology or from the USF and served bills for payment.
The media campaign was launched by Midas which was not on the panel of the Universal Services Fund, neither before nor afterward.
The NAB investigation said that it had been manipulated by accused Riaz Asher Siddique, CEO of the USF, to place Midas on the panel in connivance with accused Muhammad Saleem, PIO, and the PID, to legitimise the media campaign and to facilitate payment of Rs128 million.
The NAB investigation further said there was no competition held to formally award the media campaign which was totally against PPRA rules and policy guidelines of the ministry of IT and PID.
