KARACHI, Nov 12: A division bench of the Sindh High Court reserved on Tuesday its order on a bail petition moved by Mansoorul Haq.
The petitioner, a former chief of the Pakistan Navy, has been arrested in a NAB case alleging wrongful purchase of three container ships for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation. According to the prosecution case, he first got Rear Admiral Jamil (retired) appointed PNSC chairman. Then he was instrumental in the appointment of Commodore Mirza Ashfaq Baig as the PNSC ship management director. Operating through his proteges, it is alleged, Mr Haq manipulated purchase of three ships at an exorbitant price of 47.14 million US dollars thereby causing an immediate loss of $19 million to the Corporation.
A huge operational loss of $1.85 billion was caused during the years 1996 and 2000 when the ships remained in service.
The reference, filed by the National Accountability Bureau, is being tried by an accountability court, which declared its inability to consider Mr Haq’s bail plea under the NAB Ordinance.
In his petition in the high court, filed through Advocate Iqtidar Ali Hashmi, the accused submitted that no role had been assigned to him in the purchase of ships. The officials said to have been inducted by him were actually appointed on the then prime minister’s directive. The reference was based on vague charges and there was no specific allegation against him. The deal was not alleged to have caused any pecuniary advantage to him or to anyone else.
The petitioner maintained that the impugned transaction was negotiated and concluded by a committee appointed for the purpose. An FIA inquiry exonerated him but the reference made no mention of it. He was compelled to resign and proceed on leave preparatory to retirement before the ships became operational.
Mr Haq claimed that the allegations were part of the victimization campaign launched against him by the Nawaz Sharif government and (former) president Farooq Leghari for his presumed links to the Benazir government.
He did not contest his extradition proceedings in the United States when NAB decided to revive the charges against him. In fact, he was told by NAB Chairman Lt- Gen Munir Hafiz after his return to Pakistan that he would not be proceeded against at all if he agreed to pay $7.5 million. He entered a plea bargain in good faith but a new reference involving a shady shipping deal was filed against him.
The petitioner said he was 66 years old and was suffering from many ailments. Besides, there was no possibility of his being convicted. His name was already on the exit control list and there was no likelihood of his fleeing the country either to evade the ongoing trial before the accountability court. The grant of bail was necessary to meet the ends of justice, he submitted.
The division bench, comprising Justices Mohammed Roshan Essani and Mujibullah Siddiqui, reserved its judgment after hearing the counsel for the petitioner and the respondent Bureau.
HEARING PUT OFF: The Sindh High Court adjourned on Tuesday to Dec 10 the hearing of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto’s constitutional petition against her disqualification from contesting the October polls.
As the petition came up for hearing early in the morning, the five-judge panel was short of Justice Mushir Alam, who has recently been assigned to the SHC’s Hyderabad bench. The panel is headed by Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and consists of, besides Justice Mushir Alam, Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed, Ghulam Rabbani and Anwar Zaheer Jamali as its members. The petitioner’s counsel was also on general adjournment.
