An Accountability Court in Lahore on Friday sentenced former vice president of National Bank of Pakistan Usman Saeed to four-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 million in a corruption case.
Judge of the accountability court No. 4, Azizullah ruled that Usman Saeed had been convicted u/s 9(a) (iii) (vi) & (xi) of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 and sentenced u/s 10(a) of NAO, 1999 to four years (rigorous imprisonment) for each offence with fine of Rs 10 million. The amount of fine shall be recovered as arrear of land revenue u/s 33-E of NAO,1999. The convict is held entitled to the benefit u/s 382-B of Cr.P.C and the sentence of R.I awarded to him for each offence shall run concurrently. Convict Usman Saeed is in custody and he be sent back to jail to serve the sentence awarded to him, the order said.
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The court declared the convict Usman Saeed ineligible for any post for ten years.
“The convict (Usman Saeed) shall stand disqualified for a period of 10 years to be reckoned from the date, he is released after serving the sentence, for seeking or from being elected, chosen, appointed or nominated as a member or representative of any public body or any statutory or local authority or in service of Pakistan or of any province. He shall not be allowed to apply for or be granted or allowed any financial facility in the form of any loan or advances or other financial accommodation by any bank or financial institution(owned or controlled by government), for a period of 10 years from the date of conviction,” read the order.
Usman Saeed was appointed as the Vice President of National Bank main branch at The Mall where he misused his position as the head of the Foreign Exchange Department. The culprit Usman Saeed caused financial loss to the national exchequer through fake ledgers and LCs (Letters of Credit). The culprit continued to place fake delivery orders through bogus LCs and provided financial benefits to private firms.
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According to the NAB reference against Saeed, he embezzled tens of millions of rupees. He was indicted in August 2020 on the charges that he issued payments to businessmen who evaded the Letter of Credit (LC). Saeed had reportedly told investigators that he was blackmailed into issuing payments. NAB Lahore had filed Corruption Reference (28/2018) against Usman Saeed in Lahore accountability court in 2018.
