KARACHI: SC orders retrial in fake liquor permit case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 13: The Supreme Court remanded here on Tuesday an appeal moved by the National Accountability Bureau against the acquittal of an accused by a Sindh High Court appellate bench in the fake liquor permits case.
Setting aside the impugned SHC order reversing accused Agha Wazir Abbas's conviction by an accountability court, a Supreme Court bench at its Karachi registry directed the trial court to reopen the proceedings and record the testimony of a handwriting expert.
A fresh order be passed by the accountability court after recording the additional evidence as directed within four months, the SC bench, comprising Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui and Justices Javed Iqbal and Abdul Hameed Dogar, said in its order.
The accused was convicted by accountability judge Riaz Ahmed Phulpoto and sentenced to serve a seven-year jail term and pay a fine of Rs 2.5 million. He was also disqualified from holding any public office for a period of 10 years. The court found him involved in issuing fake permits for liquor and its transportation in collusion with six others.
The SC bench dismissed another petition for leave to appeal filed by Noor Mohammad Dahri against his disqualification by an accountability court. He was tried together with former chief minister Abdullah Shah and ex-secretary for land utilization Ramesh Udeshi.
They were alleged to have caused a loss of Rs 258 million to the public exchequer by allowing conversion of a plot allotted to Mr Dahri for mining.
The accused allottee entered a plea bargain with the bureau and surrendered the converted plot. He also relinquished the conversion fee of Rs 2.6 million deposited by him in the government treasury.
The accountability court, however, declared him ineligible to any public office, holding that the penalty of disqualification could not be avoided even in cases of plea bargain.
