ISLAMABAD: A local court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking the acquittal of suspended Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman Zafar Hijazi in a case regarding alleged tampering in the record of a sugar mill owned by the family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Hijazi’s application, filed under section 249-A of the CrPC, for the summary disposal of the FIR was fixed before a special court today.

Section 249-A empowers a judge to acquit the accused “at any stage...after hearing the prosecutor and the accused”.

Mr Hijazi is being tried in the special court for forgery, corruption and abuse of power.

He has alleged that there is no evidence against him and he was not a part of a conspiracy, and said he has received bail on these grounds.

Application seeking acquittal dismissed because there is sufficient evidence to proceed, judge says

Special Judge Irum Niazi dismissed the application, stating there is sufficient evidence to proceed. The court then adjourned the matter until Nov 29 for the presentation of more evidence.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) booked Mr Hijazi for tampering with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills record, while the court has indicted him under sections 420 (cheating), 466 (forgery) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of the PPC and section 5(2)(47) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the charge sheet, Mr Hijazi has been accused of pressuring subordinates to close a pending inquiry against the mills in backdate.

Mr Hijazi has said that he did not tamper with any records or commit any wrongdoing.

The tampering allegations emerged during the Panama Papers investigation, after the designated joint investigation team submitted a report to the Supreme Court accusing Mr Hijazi of forging documents. On the SC’s directions, the FIA booked Mr Hijazi in July.

The court granted bail to Mr Hijazi in August.

In a detailed order on the post-arrest bail, Judge Niazi observed that it had yet to be ascertained whether he had pressured his subordinates or if the backdated closure of the case record had been carried out by consensus.

She added that a tentative look at the evidence showed that the closure note in backdate had been made after meetings and detailed discussions among SECP officials Maheen Fatima, Tariq Ahmed, Ali Azeem, Tahir Mahmood and Abid Hussain, who had signed the document along with the applicant. The order stated that they were all “sailors of the same boat”.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2017