Weapons scam: Former CM Hoti questioned by NAB

PESHAWAR: Former chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, who was summoned by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Friday, visited the bureau’s office on Thursday owing to security concerns. While talking to The Express Tribune, a NAB official said summoning someone did not mean he is accused of corruption. “We just summoned him for verification of something on the February 14 but he appeared a day before the deadline,” said the official, adding his statement was needed in the Rs7 billion weapons and equipment purchase scam. The official said so far Rs100 million have been recovered from Arshad Majeed, the main supplier who turned into an approver in the case. Meanwhile, an accountability court on Friday extended the judicial remand of a distant relative of Hoti for 14 days in the same scam. The accused Raza Ali Khan, brother-in-law of Hoti’s brother Ghazan Hoti, was brought from Central Prison Peshawar and produced before Judge Wilayat Ali Khan amid tight security to get his remand extended. The same court sent the accused to prison on January 31. Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2014.