Kohistan Scandal: NAB Peshawar Approves Rs513 Million Plea Bargain

Kohistan – (Staff Reporter/Web Desk) – Kohistan scandal took a major turn on Friday when the National Accountability Court in Peshawar approved a plea bargain worth Rs513.138 million. The deal closes out one chapter of a case that has drawn attention for years due to the sheer scale of the missing public money.

The accused, Musharraf Shah, once worked as a cashier at a bank involved in the case. He admitted to unlawfully gaining Rs490.23 million, which grew to Rs200.7 million in profit over time. Rather than face a lengthy trial, he chose to settle through the plea bargain option available under accountability law.

Acting under Section 15 of the Plea Bargain rules, the court ordered his release once he deposits the full penalty amount. However, this is not a clean exit. The judge made clear that Shah will carry the status of a convicted and disqualified person going forward.

This outcome stems from Sections 9(a) and 15 of the Accountability Ordinance of 1999. Under these rules, anyone who takes a plea bargain is treated as convicted on record. They are freed from further liability only after handing back the proceeds of their crime. On top of that, they lose the right to hold any public office for life.

Cases like this one shine a light on how plea bargains work in Pakistan’s accountability system. They offer a quicker path to recovering stolen public funds, though critics often argue that such deals let offenders avoid harsher punishment. For now, the Kohistan embezzlement case stands as another example of how these settlements play out in practice.