Justice Mohammad Azim Khan Afridi of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday disposed of the case of a Norwegian fugitive of Pakistani origin, who was sentenced by an Oslo court in 2008 to two-year imprisonment, saying that the accused can be extradite in accordance with law.
Mohammad Aslam was under arrest in Adiyala Jail on the charges of defrauding the Norwegian government of over $3 billion.
According to the court documents, Aslam, born in Tehsil Kharian of District Gujrat, migrated to Norway at the age of 15. There he prospered in his private business until 2008 when an Oslo court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment for robbing the government of over $3 billion in tax evasion, false accounting, money laundering, forgery and embezzlement. After hunting for him for almost four years, the Norwegian authorities finally traced the fugitive to his hometown in Pakistan. Aslam was arrested recently on an Interpol warrant in Kharian.
The Norwegian authorities, however, persisted with their efforts for his extradition with the Interior Ministry. They also got registered an FIR against him in Gujrat and another with the FIA Special Investigation Unit (SIU) in Islamabad.
The counsel for the Aslam, Nasim Sabir Chaudhry, submitted that the crime of his client was not that serious for his extradition. He added that Pakistan had no formal extradition treaty with Norway. However, the Interior Ministry and the FIA) requested the court in writing not to entertain his petition because he was a fugitive of a Norwegian court and law. On which, the court directed the concerned authorities to deal the accused in accordance with law and disposed off the case.
