ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted interim bail till Nov 12 to television anchor Dr Shahid Masood in a corruption case on Monday.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard the petition.

Dr Masood, a former managing director and chairman of Pakistan Television (PTV), is under trial on a charge of embezzling Rs37 million and for signing an agreement with a fictitious company in 2008 to acquire media rights from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for coverage of matches by PTV.

Investigators claimed that the agreement with “M/S ISS” had caused a loss of millions of dollars to PTV as it failed to acquire the PCB’s media rights for a five-year period beginning in 2008.

Dr Masood pointed out in his petition that he had not been named in the First Information Report (FIR) registered in this case. He said if he were arrested, he would suffer an irreparable loss of reputation and health, requesting the court to grant him bail till adjudication of the complaint filed against him by the FIA before a special court.

Kamran Basharat Mufti, Special Judge (central), had rejected Shahid Masood’s bail plea on Oct 25.

Dr Masood lost his temper when a reporter put a question to him while he was leaving the Islamabad High Court’s premises. He snatched the reporter’s mobile phone, but returned it after deleting video footage.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2018