PESHAWAR: The prime accused and former provincial police officer, Malik Naveed, on Monday requested the Peshawar High Court to call former National Accountability Bureau chairman retired admiral Fasih Bukhari in the high-profile police weapons procurement case by producing an affidavit allegedly issued by the latter to him.

Mr. Bukhari denies putting his signatures on two key documents about granting pardon to an approver in the case.

Malik Naveed filed an application requesting the court to allow him to place on record the said affidavit, which was signed by Mr. Bukhari on Feb 14, in a petition already pending with the court wherein he has prayed that the ex-NAB chairman, Mr Bukhari, shall be summoned as witness by the trial court as his signatures on certain important documents were forged.

The said petition has been pending with the high court and is fixed for hearing on Feb 22.

The present application was filed on behalf of the petitioner by senior lawyer Abdul Sattar Khan.

The most important piece of evidence in the instant case is a confessional statement made by a private contractor, Arshad Majeed, under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on May 25, 2013, before a judicial magistrate.

Fasih Bukhari denies signing two key documents about pardoning of an approver

Mr. Majeed was released on bail by the high court the same year after he turned approver and agreed to voluntarily return Rs102 million.

In his confessional statement, the contractor had levelled several allegations against influential persons and made claims about making payments to the tune of over Rs1 billion to them as kickbacks to get lucrative contracts and cover up the issue.

In alleged affidavit, it is stated that Mr. Bukhari was approached by the representative of Malik Naveed Khan, who showed him two pages of the reference book (i.e. page numbers 185 and 186) one pertaining to the grant of conditional pardon to Arshad Majeed and the other also allegedly signed by him as the NAB chairman in the presence of Arshad Majeed.

He added that he solemnly declared and affirmed that those documents weren’t signed by him and that they were forged.

He also pointed out that there were discrepancies in the said documents.

“The document on Page 185 of the reference book does not pertain to the office of the Chairman NAB instead it is computer generated letterhead emanating from the office of the DG NNAB KP. The NAB chairman would never sign on the letterhead of a subordinate office which would be unlawful, illegal and unprofessional,” the affidavit states.

“I reaffirm that I have not signed any of the above two documents nor have I ever granted conditional pardon to one Mr. Arshad Majeed,” he states adding that he would have personally appeared before the court to record his statement in person, but was unable to do so due to his failing health.

“However, if need be, a judicial commission may kindly be deputed to record my statement in Islamabad to meet the ends of justice.”

Petitioner Malik Naveed had earlier filed an application before the trial court in 2015 requesting it to summon Fasih Bukhari for verification of his signature on the documents wherein it was mentioned that the chairman had given pardon to Arshad Majeed and given approval for turning him approver. However, the trial court decided that the application would be disposed of after recording statement of Arshad Majeed.

The said order of trial court was challenged by the petitioner in the high court in the pending petition.

Malik Naveed was arrested by the NAB in the case in Nov 2013 and was released on bail by the high court in Nov 2016.

The trial court had indicted Malik Naveed and former budget officer of police Jawed Khan on Jul 7, 2015. They have now been facing trial.

The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has alleged that over Rs7 billion was released by the provincial government for the procurement of weapons, vehicles and equipment to the police for countering the unabated law and order situation in the province.

It added that the suspects including the petitioners received kickbacks to the tune of Rs2.03 billion while awarding lucrative contracts to Arshad Majeed.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2017