LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Thursday granted bail to three convicts after suspending their sentence in a Rs1.5 billion fraud case. The bench also ordered the convicts to submit surety bonds of Rs500,000 each.
The bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, passed the orders while hearing an appeal filed by Amir Shafiq, Amir Abbas and Muhammad Azam Chishti, all directors of Aegis Forex, against their conviction.
The defence counsel argued that an accountability court handed down a five-year jail term to the convicts in the fraud case while ignoring facts and pleaded to the court to set aside the sentence which was “illegal”.
He also requested the bench to grant bail after suspending the conviction till the final decision of the appeal as the convicts had already served a four-year jail term.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, on the other hand, submitted that the trial court awarded sentence on merit and pleaded with the court to dismiss the appeal.
The bench, after hearing the arguments, suspended the sentence and granted bail to the convicts.
