02 May 2004	Sunday	11 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 1: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui on Friday wondered as to how a public servant could accumulate properties worth millions when public functionaries right up to the Supreme Court judges barely made both ends meet on government salaries.

The chief justice made these observations while hearing an appeal of former secretary of Local Council Board, Peshawar, Laiq Khan, facing a corruption case in an accountability court for amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income.

The SC bench dismissed the appeal instituted against the order of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) which had denied bail to the accused.

The Supreme Court bench, however, asked the accused to approach the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) if he wanted to have angiography or heart bypass done. But the accused had to bear the entire expenses of the treatment.

Deputy Prosecutor General of NAB, Peshawar, Mian Faseehul Mulk, also expressed the bureau's willingness to arrange treatment at the expense of the accused "because the provincial government lacks funds for such purposes."

Abdul Samad Khan, the counsel for the accused, drew the court's attention towards his client's "precarious" health, saying the accused was not only old but also a diabetic with a chronic cardiac history. He had underwent angiography abroad in 2000.

To this, the chief justice observed that the counsel should also consider the damage the accused had done to the country. "You are ignoring this fact altogether," the chief justice remarked, adding that 60 to 70 per cent people nowadays were diabetic or heart patients.

Laiq Khan, who had retired on March 19, 1997, was wanted by NAB on charges of amassing 37 properties in Hayatabad worth Rs51 million beyond his known source of income.

The accused absconded and went abroad when warrants of arrest against him were issued in June 2000. Subsequently, proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender commenced on the request of the NAB.

Since the properties had also been purchased in the name of his family members, his sons were also arraigned in the reference as co-accused and were later indicted by the trial court.

During the trial, 13 prosecution witnesses were examined and cross-examined while the defence submitted a list of 178 witnesses. When 120 of them had been examined, Mr Khan suddenly appeared and surrendered himself before the court in 2002. Consequently, the NAB submitted a supplementary challan to implicate the principal accused and re-initiated the case.

The accused then moved a bail petition in the PHC, which directed the NAB to constitute a medical board to examine him. The medical board admitted that he was a heart patient but his condition was stable.

When the accused questioned the report in the court, the high court summoned the cardiologist who confirmed before the court that the accused was stable but to ascertain the exact health condition, the patient needed angiography and tolerance test.

At this the accused was shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, with a direction to the cardiologist to perform angiography and submit a report.

The accused, however, refused to be examined on the grounds that he wanted treatment at the hospital of his choice. The high court later dismissed his bail petition.

The accused then moved the apex court which directed the NAB in June 2003 to keep the accused in the Hayat Teaching Hospital, till the time he recovered completely.

During the proceedings, when the petitioner's counsel tried to highlight a report in which the patient was advised treatment either at AFIC (Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi) or in some other hospitals in Karachi, Justice Javed Iqbal observed that the state-of-the-art facilities were available in Peshawar, and patients even from Karachi were now coming to this city to benefit from them.

The SC bench, headed by the CJ, comprised Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.