LAHORE: Former state minister for defence Major (r) Habibullah Warraich’s bail petition was rejected on Monday by a banking court while former National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi was sent on a five-day physical remand to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Punjab.
According to details, Warraich claimed that he was not involved in selling land to the NICL and the FIA had already started recovering the embezzled money. After hearing arguments, the court dismissed the former state minister’s bail petition.
FIA Punjab officials, after taking Niazi’s custody from FIA Karachi on the Supreme Court’s order, presented him before a judicial magistrate who sent the former NICL chairman on a five-day physical remand. The judicial magistrate also ordered the FIA Punjab to present Niazi on December 18 for further proceedings.
FIA Punjab sources told Pakistan Today that the agency had started interrogating Niazi who was placed under a strict control and three different FIA Punjab teams under FIA Punjab Director Zafar Qureshi’s supervision were investigating the NICL scam’s main accused. According to sources, FIA investigators were not allowing Niazi to sleep in order to get the scam details.
Sources told Pakistan Today that FIA Punjab had already recorded a 27-page statement of Niazi for 13 hours at a stretch. The FIA Punjab director said that he could not tell any further details about the course of interrogation and Niazi’s statement in custody. He said that FIA was working to get as many details as possible from the former NICL chairman about the scam.
petition: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday disposed of a contempt of court petition filed by Sheikh Afzal, accused in Rs nine billion Punjab Bank loan scam case along with Hamesh Khan, former chief the Bank.
The petitioner had aggrieved that he was an accused of a financial crime but the jail authorities were maintaining his strict surveillance through CCTV and the Satellite cameras.
He contended that the accused in the same case Hamesh Khan was enjoying relief while his jail activities were being closely monitored through cameras as if he was a terrorist. Following the directions of the bench consisting of Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Ahmad Farooq Shiekh, Deputy Superintendent of Jail Muhammad Fakhri appeared and informed the court that all equipment in question had been removed and no surveillance of the petitioner was going on and in this view of the matter, the court disposed of the petition.
Zardari case: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday will resume the hearing of a petition challenging dual offices of Asif Ali Zardari who holds simultaneously the office of President of Pakistan and Co-Chairman of PPP.
Petitioner counsel AK Dogar was giving his arguments in the case when its hearing was put off for one day due to shortage of time. He will continue his arguments today. Chief justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry is heading the full bench.
Abdul Hafiz Pirzada, SM Zafar and Abid Hassan Manto are appearing in the court as amicus curiae advocates to assist the court to do full justice in ex partee proceedings. The lawyers for the federation and Asif Ali Zardari have boycotted the proceedings and they did not appear before the court despite numerous notices to them.
In his arguments, AK Dogar said that Zardari was not eligible to hold two offices at the same time as the constitution of the country and the law did not permit him to hold a political office such a co-chairman of the PPP, with his constitutional office of the President. Relying on Article 41 (1) of the Constitution and Supreme Court decisions in Nawaz Sharif case of 1993 and others, the petitioner contended that the president as head of the state represents unity of the republic.
He added that the SC has laid down that a president is a non-partisan person but Zardari is functioning as head of the PPP whereof his neutrality and non-partisanship has been compromised, he contended.
Court directs NAB to attach Zahid’s illegal properties: An Accountability court directed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities on Monday to initiate the process of attachment by pasting the notices on all illegal properties related to WAPDA and Pakistan Cricket Board former Chairman Lt General (R) Zahid Ali Akbar. A reference had been filed against Lt General (R) Zahid Ali Akbar that he, as chairman WAPDA and Pakistan Cricket Board piled up valuable assets through illegal means, in the name of his close relatives.
According to details, the accused purchased a plot measuring 500 square in Dura Shah Noor Gharial Camp Murree in the name of his wife Mrs Nadeem Akbar, 588-X measuring 1 kanal in DHA in the name of his wife, 45-Y DHA measuring 2 kanal in the name of his son Salman Ali Akbar, two kanal plot in DHA in the name of his wife, 11-B measuring two kanal in IEP Co-operative Housing Society Lahore in the name of his wife, 49-D/1 measuring two kanal IEP Co-operative Housing Society Lahore in the name of his wife, 327-G, in Phase-V, DHA in the name of his son Yasir Ali Akbar, 391-M Phase-VI DHA in the name of his wife, 181-CC Phase-V DHA in the name of his son Yasir Ali Akbar, 28-CCA (Commercial) in Phase V DHA in the name of his wife and 193-BB measuring nine kanal 10 marla in Phase IV DHA in the name of his wife.
