KARACHI, June 10: A Sindh High Court division bench granted bail to former Bankers Equity Limited (BEL) chairman Rauf B. Kadri on Tuesday in the sum of Rs 40 million in the last case he is facing trial in.
The banker is serving jail sentence awarded to him by an accountability court, an appeal against which is pending before the SHC. The last case pertains to a 1998-99 transaction in which the BEL made a payment of Rs 40 million to Sikandar Ali Jatoi.
According to the prosecution, the payment was manipulated by Rauf Kadri in collusion with the then BEL president, Inamul Haq, to satisfy a personal loan.
The accused first applied for bail to the trial court for offences in banks and approached the high court when the plea was rejected.
Arguing for bail before a division bench, comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and M. Mujibullah Siddiqui, Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed submitted that the offence was not punishable with life term or death and the accused had already remained in jail in the case for over a year. He was entitled to statutory bail under Section 497 (1) of the code of criminal procedure.
DIG SUMMONED: Justice M. Ashraf Laghari summoned the DIG (Operations), Karachi, on June 23 to answer an allegation that an under-trial prisoner had not been produced in court for the last three years.
Salahuddin alias Amitabh alleged in his petition that he had not been produced to face trial in a court for three years. The court had earlier summoned the DIG (Administration), who submitted on Tuesday that the matter fell within the purview of the DIG (Operations).
