PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday stopped the National Accountability Bureau from arresting special secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa home department, but allowed it to continue with an inquiry against him in connection with assets possessed by him.

The bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan Chamkani and Justice Mohammad Daud Khan directed the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to file comments in a writ petition filed by the special secretary, Siraj Ahmad Khan, seeking pre-arrest bail in the said inquiry.

The bench directed the petitioner to cooperate with the NAB in investigation of the case. The court fixed Aug 10 for next hearing with the direction that the petitioner should not be arrested till that date.

Advocate Qazi Jawad Ahsanullah appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was a grade-20 officer who had served against different important administrative posts. He added that presently the petitioner had been serving in the home and tribal affairs department as special secretary.

He stated that recently the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had started an inquiry into the assets possessed by the petitioner and had issued a call-up notice to him asking him to turn up at the NAB headquarters in Peshawar. He added that the petitioner apprehended that he might be taken into custody if he visited the NAB office.

Allows bureau to continue inquiry against official in assets case

He argued that the petitioner had been cooperating with NAB in the said inquiry and as he was a senior officer, therefore, there was no apprehension of his becoming an absconder. He added that the petitioner was a respectable officer and he had all the details about the sources from where he had acquired his properties.

The bench directed an additional deputy prosecutor general, Umer Farooq, who was present in the court, to accept notice on behalf of NAB and to file comments in the case.

Meanwhile, the bench also sought reply from the NAB within seven days in a writ petition filed by a former provincial police officer, Malik Naveed Khan, seeking his release on bail in a high profile case of alleged embezzlement in procurement of weapons for the police department.

Advocates Abdul Sattar Khan and Wajid Sattar appeared for the petitioner and argued that their client was arrested on Nov 20, 2013, on charges of his involvement in misappropriation of funds meant for procurement of weapons. They said that since then the petitioner had been in prison and his trial was far from over.

Sattar Khan stated that so far the concerned accountability court had recorded evidence of 23 witnesses. He stated that the petitioner was not a member of the purchase committee and the charges leveled against him were baseless.

He pointed out that recently three other high ranking police officers, who were members of the purchase committee, had joined the trial and now charge would be framed against them by the trial court thus the trial would be started a fresh, which meant that the petitioner would remain imprisoned for many more years. He added that there was no possibility of conclusion of the trial in near future.

Presently, Malik Naveed Khan and a budget officer of police department, Jawed Khan, have been facing trial in the case.

An accountability court had indicted them on July 7, 2015, for receiving kickbacks from Arshid Majeed, a private contractor who turned approver in the case, and inflicting a loss of Rs2031.25 million during procurement of weapons and equipment for the police department in 2009-10.

They had pleaded not guilty to the charge and had decided to face trial.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016