The petitioners are dangerous people who forced me to remain underground for almost eleven months through intimidation and threats: khurrum. — File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Mian Khurram Rasool, a high-profile suspect in a case of swindle who finds himself in a soup for allegedly involving the Prime Minister’s Office as partner in crime, on Friday appeared before the Supreme Court and blamed his detractors for his predicament.

“They (petitioners) are  very dangerous people who forced me to remain underground for almost eleven months through intimidation and threats,” claimed Mian Rasool before a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The bench had taken up the petition of Pervaiz Hussain and Sameer Hussain in which they accused the former adviser of defrauding a Karachi-based business concern to the tune of Rs630 million on the pretext of managing petroleum export licence for Nato forces.

On Thursday an accountability court in Rawalpindi sentenced Mian Rasool to four years’ imprisonment after declaring him an absconder in a Rs71 million bank fraud case. Similarly, a special court for banking offences in Lahore granted him an interim bail after the Lahore High Court denied him protective bail for not appearing before the court.

On Friday the Supreme Court wrapped up the matter concerning Mian Rasool, but postponed a contempt petition against FIA Director General Tehseen Anwar Shah. The notice was issued to him for not implementing a court directive to arrest Khurram Rasool.

Moved in Dec 2010, the petition accused Mian Rasool, media coordinator to the prime minister on Northern Pakistan Television, of deceitfully and fraudulently minting over Rs630 million after assuring two petitioner companies, Sahara Gas and Pak Delta Enterprises, that he would use his influence to secure for them a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) quota and oil export licence for the Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Mian Khurram Rasool, who was brought before the court in manacles on Friday, said he feared for his life, requesting the court to order retrieving the mobile records of the petitioners who allegedly sent obnoxious messages to him and extended threats to kidnap his children. “It’s been one year that my children have not attended school.”

He accused the petitioners of disseminating obnoxious SMS messages against his womenfolk.

The court, too, asked the petitioners to mind their language.

Mian Rasool disputed a claim made by the Federal Investigation Agency that it had pursued him right from Jhelum, asserting instead that he had decided to turn himself in.

“Why FIA is claiming the credit when he (Rasool) himself has surrendered,” observed Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, a member of the bench.

The chief justice ordered the FIA to free Khurram Rasool from handcuffs.

Mian Rasool claimed that he ran an import-export business, owned a CNG station as well as stores in Britain and China.

When the gas deal was done with the petitioners, he was not the media coordinator, Mian Rasool said, adding he had already returned 80 per cent of the amount in question. The balance ranged between Rs60 and Rs70 million.

Advocate Rasheed Razvi, who is representing the petitioners, countered the statement, saying that the four cheques the accused gave to his client had bounced.

The court wondered why an application by Nargis Sethi, the premier’s former principal secretary, was made a part of the case. Rasheed Razvi explained that his client had also submitted a similar request to the FIA, but before that the Prime Minister’s Office sent the application through Nargis Sethi.

The court directed the FIA to proceed with the matter independently and in accordance with law without causing prejudice to the accused in any manner.