Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench on Monday extended the pre-arrest interim bail of a Finance Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Member Kamal Fareed Bijirani due to the non-availability of the prosecutor, as he was declared an absconder by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a multi-billion rupee scam along with former OGRA chairman Tauqir Sadiq.
On Monday, a division bench comprising of Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi resumed the hearing of the petition filed by Kamal Fareed Bijrani, OGRA finance member. The court was informed that NAB Additional Deputy Prosecutor General Barrister Saeedur Rehman’s father had died abroad so he was not able to appear before the court today.
The division bench adjourned the hearing on the petition until March 6 when Kamal Fareed Bijirani furnished two surety bonds, each of worth Rs 10 million.
In his bail plea, Bijrani said NAB had issued warrants of his arrest while he was in Switzerland on leave to attend to his ailing mother. He said NAB had unjustly declared him an accused to shift focus away from Sadiq. Dispelling the impression of being an absconder, Bijrani said he had extended his stay in Switzerland on doctors’ advice.
NAB accused Bijrani of causing losses to the national exchequer in the form of Gas Development Surcharge by increasing the benchmark of unaccounted gas (UFG) or untraced gas losses to 70 per cent and conversion of operational income into non-operating income in a report submitted to the apex court last August. He was also accused of permitting relocation of CNG stations and industries in violation of national policy.
In his bail petition, Bijrani said he had appeared before the NAB investigators and submitted written replies to their questions. He stated that the revision of the rate of UFG and conversion of operational income were the result of interim orders by provincial high courts in 2010 and 2011 after the companies went into litigation.
“Financial losses in the fiscal year 2011-12 were recovered from consumers through a gas price hike,” stated the petitioner.
As for relocating CNG stations, Bijrani maintained that he had asked the applicants to approach the federal cabinet for policy guidelines but Sadiq overruled the objection.
Ex-OGRA chief Tauqir Sadiq was accused of causing a loss of Rs 82 billion to the national exchequer.
Meanwhile, the accountability court heard the OGRA corruption case but due to non-availability of counsel of Shahzad Saleem Bhatti, the arrested accused in the case. Shahzad was a legal adviser of Tauqir Sadiq, former chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority. The trial court adjourned the hearing of the case until tomorrow.
