KARACHI, Oct 23: Lawyers representatives warned the federal government of a relentless protest campaign if the cheated depositors of the city court’s post office savings bank, including the Sindh Bar Council and the Karachi Bar Association Cooperative Society, were not repaid their stuck-up amounts promptly.

Speaking at a press conference at the SBC office, they said though the deposits were tendered to an individual “employee”, the federal government-run Pakistan Postal Service Corporation was squarely liable because the alleged offender, Izhar Ahmad Siddiqui, acted on its behalf and received deposits as bank’s principal functionary.

He has been booked and detained but the postal authorities are not prepared to honour the bank’s obligations to pay profit or repay the principal amounts to the depositors.

About Rs 310 million deposited by 250 lawyers and their professional organizations, retired government employees, widows and others are believed to have been embezzled.

The press conference was addressed by SBC vice-chairman Mohammad Yasin Azad; KBA president Mohammad Ali Abbasi, secretary Sathi Ishaque and finance secretary Mohammad Iqbal Aqeel; former SBC member Mohammad Aqil Lodhi; and senior lawyer Mohammad Ilyas Khan, who has been deprived of a substantial amount and has moved a writ petition to seek legal redress.

Balochistan Bar leaders Kamran Murtaza and Rehmatullah Kakar, who are members of the opposition MMA in the Senate, were also present and assured the affected lawyers that they would raise the matter in the upper house of Parliament.

Accused Izhar Siddiqui headed the city courts’ post office till his retirement in 1992.

According to the lawyers, he was re-employed as assistant director (legal) and continued to receive deposits at the post office’s savings banks. The fraud was detected in May when the post office declined to honour withdrawal requests by certain depositors.

An attempt was apparently being made to protect some high-level officers in the postal hierarchy, they alleged.

Meanwhile, a division bench of the Sindh High Court ordered on Thursday constitution of a medical board to ascertain whether accused Izhar Siddiqui be released on bail on medical grounds. The board would submit its report by Nov 11 when the bail plea would again come up for hearing.