KARACHI, April 10: The Sindh High Court admitted former Pakistan Steel Mills chairman Muhammad Usman Faruqui to bail on Thursday in the total sum of Rs3.5 million.

Mr Faruqui was booked in two cases by the Federal Investigation Agency in 1996 for alleged purchase of high-tech level indicators and computers at exorbitant prices. He was first tried by an anti-corruption court but the case was transferred by the Ehtesab Bureau, later renamed the National Accountability Bureau, to an accountability court without filing a separate reference. He was convicted by the accountability court in March 2001 and sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each and pay fines of Rs15 million and Rs10 million in the two cases.

He challenged his conviction in the Sindh High Court, through Advocates Iqtidar Ali Hashmi, Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Hashmi, within 10 days. As the appeals awaited disposal, he moved for his release on bail.

His counsel argued that, according to the jail report produced in the court, the appellant petitioner had already undergone almost the entire substantive period of his sentence and was entitled to bail on this ground alone.

Besides, they submitted, the impugned purchases were initiated by his predecessor, Lt-Gen Qamaruzzaman, and he only signed two notes in respect of them in the interest of upgradation of the obsolete PSM system. He remained chairman for 11 months only but all business transactions made or processed during this short stint had been made subject of criminal proceedings. No evidence was recorded by the transferee accountability court and the conviction was based on the evidence produced in the anti-corruption court.

The counsel also contended that the petitioner was a victim of political persecution launched by the Nawaz Sharif government through Saifur Rehman Khan.

A division bench, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, accepted the plea and enlarged the appellant on bail against sureties in the sum of Rs2.5 million in one case and Rs one million in the other to the satisfaction of the SHC nazir.