ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted bail to former chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Malik Mushtaq and two former acting chairmen Dr Abdul Jabbar and Shehzad Nawaz Cheema in the recruitment scam case.

IHC Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi granted bails to the three against Rs500,000 surety bonds each.

Malik Mushtaq was granted pre-arrest bail while Dr Abdul Jabbar and Shehzad Nawaz Cheema granted post arrest bails.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) law officer said that they had no objection on the grant of bail to Malik Mushtaq, as his counsel had agreed that the former Pemra chairman would cooperate with the agency during the investigation.

The FIA counsel opposed the grant of bail to Dr Jabbar and Mr Cheema, who were already in the agency’s custody. However, the IHC judge granted bail to all three of them, claiming that it would have been discriminatory otherwise.

The Pemra officials have been under investigation for allegedly increasing the number of posts in Pemra and appointing more people than the approved, causing a loss to the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2014