30 September 2004	Thursday	14 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Sept 29: An Ehtesab Appellate Bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday suspended the conviction of Salahuddin Dogar, a former Multan mayor and MNA, and allowed his release on bail.

The bench issued the orders on an appeal filed by the PML-N leader against the conviction awarded by an accountability court of Lahore in a reference which charged him with evading stamp duty on title deeds for the property he had purchased in Multan.

The reference alleged that Salahuddin Dogar misused his office to acquire property which was beyond his known sources of income. Another charge contained in the reference was that he paid stamp duty less than the value of the property.

His counsel, AK Dogar, submitted before the bench on Wednesday that Salahuddin Dogar had an annual income amounting to about Rs60 million and he purchased the property from his legitimate source of income.

As for the evasion of stamp duty, the counsel submitted that matters like income tax and stamp duty were not incorporated in the schedule of offences triable by accountability courts.

He submitted that the issue of stamp duty was not within the jurisdiction of NAB courts and the conviction awarded to Mr Dogar in the reference was unlawful. Salahuddin Dogar was facing three NAB references and charges of corruption made by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment.