PESHAWAR: Former inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police Malik Naveed has agreed to pay Rs80 million as a plea bargain to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to get away with the millions of rupees weapons scam for which he is under custody for the last 55 days.
Separately, the NAB KP requested for a 14-day extension of Naveed’s physical remand to further probe the case after two other accused persons, including the former advisor of KPK chief minster Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and a close relative Raza Ali, were arrested last week.
Malik Naveed was produced before the Accountability Court No 1 of Justice Walayat Ali Gandapur after his last remand expired.
During the initial proceedings, Malik Naveed, along with his counsels Latif Afridi and Barrister Zahoorul Haq, informed the court that the accused had volunteered to return Rs80 million under a plea bargain and hence he should be shifted to the judicial prison because of his deteriorating health.
Moreover, the counsel of the accused also moved the application for the return of the money in the last hearing.
The NAB prosecutor Lajbar Khan told the court that the NAB had yet to form a Central Executive Committee under Chairman NAB, who is a grade-22 officer, to handle the plea bargain deal and hence the accused may be shifted into NAB custody for an additional 14 days.
The court sent Naveed on a 14-day judicial remand.
The NAB inquiry had earlier revealed that a number of KP police officers and officials were allegedly involved in massive corruption and irregularities in the 2008-09 procurement by violating government rules and thus causing huge loss to the exchequer.
NAB had also arrested KP's police budget officer Javed Khan and the supplier Arshad Majeed in the scam.
The contractor Arshad Majeed had turned approver in the case and had told the court about the alleged kickbacks received by various government functionaries in the case.
Moreover a colonel and three majors of the Pakistan Army were sacked from military service after it emerged that they had accepted kickbacks while inspecting arms purchased by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the police in 2010.