Court approves Rs20m plea bargain of contractor in Kohistan graft case

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PESHAWAR: An accountability court here on Friday approved the Rs20 million plea bargain of an accused in the high-profile case involving the alleged embezzlement of over Rs37 billion from the bank accounts of the Upper Kohistan district accounts office. Judge Mohammad Zafar ordered that accused Saifullah, a private contractor, be released if his custody was not required in any other case. He added that the accused had been discharged from his liability and disqualified from holding any public office under Section 15 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. The judge observed that the accused had acknowledged that his plea bargain agreement with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had been entered into with his full consent and of his own free will, without any duress, coercion or pressure. Orders his release if custody not required in any other case He pointed out that during the plea bargain proceedings, the accused paid the total liability of Rs20 million on Sept 11, 2026, through two pay orders. In his statement, the accused, a resident of Dasu, Upper Kohistan, acknowledged that he had acted as a contractor in the scam through his sole proprietorship, Kohistan and Company, and had fraudulently operated the company’s bank account. He added that he didn’t carry out any civil work through the company, which was established solely to encash illegal payments through fraudulent means. NAB special prosecutor Manik Shah appeared before the court along with investigation officer SP Inayatullah. The officials submitted an application under Section 25(b), read with Section 15 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, seeking approval of the accused’s plea bargain in the ongoing investigation into embezzlement and misappropriation in the case. They said that the matter uncovered by NAB involved the active collusion of the accused with other co-accused, including officials of the Communication and Works Department in Upper Kohistan, the District Accounts Office Upper Kohistan, employees of the National Bank of Pakistan’s Dasu branch and several private contractors. The officials said that the accused had misappropriated funds from various projects through bogus withdrawals from the national treasury in the names of contractors who had not executed any civil works. They said that the accused, who was in judicial custody, had filed an application seeking a plea bargain with NAB. The officials said thatthe plea bargain had been approved by the NAB chairman on Oct 14, 2026. Until now, the NAB’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter has arrested around 40 accused in the case. It claims that it received a source report on April 8, 2025, revealing a massive financial scandal in Upper Kohistan involving the illegal withdrawal and misappropriation of over Rs37 billion from the contractor’s security deposit head of bank account G-10113. It added that the report implicated a network of government officials, bank employees and private contractors in a carefully orchestrated conspiracy that exploited systemic vulnerabilities and violated the Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual. Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2026

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