The Sindh High Court has acquitted former president of National Bank of Pakistan, Syed Iqbal Ahmed Ashraf, in a case involving losses of Rs54 billion to the national exchequer through the alleged collusion of bank officials and a private oil marketing company, 24NewsHD TV reported on Monday.
According to the prosecution, between 2015 and 2020, the National Bank of Pakistan provided financial facilities to a private oil marketing company, causing heavy losses to the national treasury through collusion between the two institutions.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a case against the accused in January 2022.
However, the court observed that according to the record, the bank had provided financing worth Rs5 billion to the private company during the tenure of Syed Iqbal Ahmed Ashraf.
The court further noted that during the presidency of former NBP chief Saeed Ahmed between 2017 and 2019, the financial facilities extended to the company increased to Rs15.65 billion.
The court said individuals identified by the FIA as central figures in the case had already been acquitted.
It also noted that Saeed Ahmed Khan had been declared innocent by the FIA in a supplementary challan.
The court further observed that the FIA had converted seven National Bank officials from accused persons into prosecution witnesses.
The court ruled that there was no distinguishing aspect on record that justified continuing proceedings solely against Syed Iqbal Ahmed Ashraf.
It added that there appeared to be no possibility of conviction in the case.