Court dismisses Mushtaq Raisani's plea bargain request

QUETTA: An accountability court dismissed former Balochistan finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani’s plea bargain request.

The court returned the request and the record after hearing the National Accountability Bureau prosecutor and investigation officer.

The Executive Board of NAB in a surprise move in December, accepted the plea bargain request of more than Rs2 billion of Balochistan Finance Secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Raisani and Sohail Majeed Shah, contractor and frontman of Khalid Lango, ex-adviser to CM Balochistan for Finance.

Raisani has embezzled money worth Rs40 billion, according to media reports.

Chairman National Accountability Bureau Qamar Zaman came out in support of the plea bargain law, which allows an individual to pay back the amount they have embezzled to the public exchequer and the case closes against them.

Raisani was apprehended in May, this year, during a raid on offices of the finance department at Quetta Civil Secretariat, after over Rs650 million in cash including local and foreign currency and gold jewellery weighing several kilograms was recovered from his residence.