An accountability court in Rawalpindi sentenced Khurram Rasool, the former media coordinator for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, to three years in prison in absentia in a bank fraud case on Thursday.
The court also convicted four other co-accused, including three bank employees, in the same case. Each was sentenced to four years in prison and fined Rs 500,000.
The bank officials found to be in league with Rasool were identified as Hasnain Haider, Reehan Sheikh and Mumtaz Nasir. The remaining co-accused was identified as Muhammad Tariq. Each was told they would have to serve an extra six months if they failed to pay the fine.
Accountability Court Judge Jahandad Khan resumed the hearing of the case on Thursday and convicted Rasool under Section 31-A of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance for not appearing in court even after being declared a proclaimed offender (PO).
On April 28, 2011, the same court had declared Rasool a PO as he failed to appear in court after cancellation of his bail on January 26, 2011.
Rasool was allegedly involved in providing fake asset details to a bank in order to obtain a Rs 70 million loan. The corruption reference against him was filed in 2009.
Later, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed a petition for protective bail for Rasool, which was moved after he was sentenced by the accountability court.
The division bench, comprising Justice Sheikh Najam-ul-Hassan and Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa, was hearing the petition filed through lawyer Noor Muhammad Jaspal.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel stated that his client could not appear in the LHC because he feared being arrested, therefore, protective bail should be granted to him. However, the court turned down the request observing that protective bail could not be granted as the petitioner was absent. The bench held further that protective bail could not be granted without hearing the stance of NAB.
The petitioner’s counsel requested the court to adjourn the matter until Monday but the bench rejected it. At this stage, the counsel asked the court to allow him to withdraw the application. The bench accepted the request and dismissed the application.
