A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday granted bail to seven marketing officials of the National Fertiliser Marketing Corporation (NFMC) allegedly involved in a fertiliser scandal.
The bench ordered the marketing officials to submit surety bonds of Rs 500,000 each to avail the bail.
The bench, headed by Justice Tariq Abbasi, heard the applications, filed by marketing officials, Salahuddin Shah, Salman Khan Niazi, Shoaib Ali Toor, Abdul Mannan, Muneeb Ahmad, Faizan Rasool and Muhammad Tauseef.
During the hearing, the petitioners’ counsel Amjad Pervaiz submitted that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested the officials in connection with the urea fertiliser scandal without any reason. He said that the marketing officials were not responsible for supply and order booking, but they were assigned to prepare documentary record of the commodity.
However, the NAB prosecutor submitted that the total amount embezzled was Rs 1.6 billion, whereas the accused were involved in embezzlement of Rs 210 million.
When the bench asked the prosecutor to submit reports regarding the role played by the each accused separately in the embezzlement, the prosecutor was unable to submit any such report.
The bench observed that the NAB spoiled the case as a result of faulty investigations. It failed to determine the officials responsible for corruption in the inquiry, observed the bench.
The court, while granting bail to all the seven accused, directed them to submit surety bonds.