KARACHI, Feb 7: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday admitted an appeal filed by Sadruddin Ganji, a business tycoon, against his conviction in a graft reference.

The appellant was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of Rs1 million was imposed on him on Feb 2 by an accountability court that found him guilty of defaulting on the financial facilities he had.

According to the verdict, the prosecution through the evidence placed in court proved that the accused had obtained loan facilities from a private bank and upon non-repayment, the bank filed a recovery suit in the high court, which issued a decree to the amount of Rs657.635 million with 21 per cent markup.

According to the reference (12/2007) filed by the National Accountability Bureau, Sindh, Sardaruddin Ganji and his son Hashim Ganji of West Pakistan Tank Terminal obtained financial facilities worth Rs250 million from a private bank in 1996 for their firm, which was set up to import palm oil, export molasses and store stock in tank terminals. However, it said, the accused remained unable to pay back the loan.

The charge-sheet filed by NAB in 2007 alleged that the accused obtained the loan in the form of letters of credit for the import of palm oil and did not repay the amount as per agreement and committed wilful default of Rs1.122 billion.

Doctors' plea for FIR cancellation

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam issued notices to the prosecutor general and a private respondent in a criminal miscellaneous application of two doctors seeking cancellation of a case against them.

Dr Razia Fida Hussain and Dr Anis Hussain Jafri, represented by Advocate Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui, stated that a pregnant woman, Farzana Shafiq, wife of Muhammad Shafique, was admitted to the Zainab Medical Hospital, Numaish, on April 17.

They submitted that the woman had a history of tuberculosis and oedema and she was also anaemic.

The petitioners stated that the next day she underwent a Caesarean section on her request due to medical complications and later delivered a baby.

They stated that later the patient's condition deteriorated and she was operated upon for the second time. However, the doctors said, the patient had to be shifted to another hospital as it was advised that she be kept on a ventilator.

The petitioners submitted that the patient died on June 5 due to a cardiopulmonary arrest.

They said that the patient's brother, Alamgir, lodged an FIR against them with the Soldier Bazaar police station nine days after the death of his sister, alleging negligence on the part of the doctors and medical staff.

The petitioners stated that later on July 9, they received a legal notice from her husband claiming damages of Rs12.5 million.

They stated that a special medical board was formed by the provincial government to ascertain the cause of death and the board submitted its final report observing that the patient was managed quite appropriately and no human error was seen in the case.The petitioner stated that the investigation officer of the case filed the final report based upon findings of the medical board and his own investigation and recommended to the court cancellation of the FIR.

However, they said that the trial court ordered the constitution of another medical board on the request of the complainant.

The petitioners said that the second medical board also opined that there was no delay in management of the case and no avoidable human error could be identified.

Nonetheless, they stated, the trial court discarded the reports of the two medical boards and held that the death of the patient was attributable to negligence of accused persons and ordered their trial.

The petitioners prayed to the court to set aside the impugned order of the trial court and order the cancellation of the FIR and trial proceedings against them.