LAHORE – The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Gujranwala Electric Supply Company (Gepco) chief executive over his failure to appearing in a contempt of court case.
The contempt petition has been filed by a sacked lineman Khalid Younas, who is also a volleyball player for Wapda team. Justice Ch Muhammad Tariq summoned GEPCO chief executive repeatedly but he did not turn up, therefore, the judge issued his arrest warrants for Feb 22. Petitioner’s counsel Ishtiaq Chaudhry pleaded that the petitioner was appointed as lineman in year 1995 under sports quota and he had represented Wapda on national and international sports events.
The counsel told the court that the GEPCO authorities removed petitioner from his job because he was state to be being absent from duty. “Though the fact is that an employee recruited on sports basis is exempted from attending the office like the usual staff”, the counsel argued. The removal was challenged before federal services tribunal and the tribunal on April 16, 2010 which ordered his reinstatement. But the respondent authorities ignored that orders.
FIA served notice in NICL scam : The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over bail petitions for six accused in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam. Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi issued the notice to FIA for notice for January 26, while hearing the bail cases of NICL scam accused.
The accused in the case are: Major (retired) Habibullah Warraich, Habibullah Warraich, former Defence Minister, his son Mohsin Warraich, Muhammad Maalick, manager of a company owned by Ch Moonis Elahi. So far Habibullah Warraich alone has been charged for corruption amounting to Rs1.68 billion. As per the prosecution, Warraich was in cabinet when he and his cousin purchased hundreds of acres of government land at low prices and sold it to NICL at ten times higher rates.
The accused also defaulted on a bank loan of Rs550 million. Muhammad Maalick is accused of making a deposit of Rs220 million to the account of Mohsin Warraich. The accused in their petitions had pleaded that the investigating agency failed to produce any direct evidence against them and was delaying the proceedings before trial court on one pretext to other. They said that they were ready to deposit surety bonds to the satisfaction of the trial court if the court allowed them bail.
