ISLAMABAD: In the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) bribery reference, an accused turned approver against former programme chair Farzana Raja.
In this case, the defendant Salman Khalid filed an application with the Accountability Court requesting direction from the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to pardon him on account of his consent to become an approver against the other defendant.
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Khurram Humayun, the deceased Accounts Controller General, has also been charged in this case, but his name will be omitted as he has expired.
In the declaration, Khalid said he was willing to testify as a witness in this case.
On Feb 15, the accountability court is expected to prosecute the convicted.
The 32-page reference taken up by the accountability court against the chief of the Pakistan People’s Party and others claimed that a complaint was received by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alleging that in 2009-10 and 2010-11, the BISP granted contracts to advertisement agencies in breach of the Public Procurement Rules (PPR), 2004.
It was further claimed that one advertising firm, Midas (Private) Limited, was awarded Rs1.657 billion.
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On May 23, 2014, the responsible authority ordered an inquiry that was eventually upgraded into an investigation.
It further claimed that the information obtained during the investigation revealed that in 2009, Ms Raja and others were public office holders of pre-qualified advertisement agencies and awarded the BISP media campaign in breach of the PPR, 2004, as well as PID guidelines and issued media payments against the suspects’ suspected inflated false bills and committed the crime.
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