In a corruption case, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Monday confirmed bail of four accused officials of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) by taking an “oath of innocence” from them on the Holy Quran, in an open court. The four PHA officials of grades 19 and 18 had filed a petition in the LHC seeking cancellation of the FIR registered against them by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Punjab Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif’s directives, over their alleged involvement in corruption of funds from PHA schemes. They were granted interim bails last week, which were confirmed by the CJ’s verdict on Monday. The officers included PHA Director Muhammad Tahir Ejaz, Horticulture Deputy Director Akhtar Mehmood, and PHA Deputy Directors Azhar Ali Salahira, and Saeed Ahmed.
As per details, A F Ferguson, a chartered accountancy firm, audited PHA schemes’ funds and discovered that funds in the department had been embezzled. Acting upon the report, the CM referred the names of the officers to the ACE for initiation of proceedings against them. The ACE registered FIR (39/2010) in police station D-ACE Lahore against them and summoned them on June 14 to the ACE office. The accused officials were informed that the FIR had been registered against them on the CM’s directives, after ex parte proceeding by ACE on the matter.
Asharaf Wahlah, counsel for the PHA officers, pleaded their innocence and submitted that his clients did not have the authority to sanction funds, and their job was only to execute schemes – and no embezzlement in the execution process had been pointed out by the audit report. After hearing arguments of their counsel, the CJ asked the court staff to bring the Quran. The CJ said “they would have to take an oath of their innocence, as per their claims.”
The Holy Quran was brought before them and by placing their hands in turn on the Quran, they each declared that they had not committed corruption of even a single penny in the PHA schemes, and that they were innocent. After this, the CJ confirmed and granted their interim bails.
