PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has arrested an absconding accused in a Mudaraba fraud case.

Asifullah of Charsadda district, who faces the charge of cheating public at large to the tune of Rs13.855 million under the garb of investing their money in Mudaraba, an Islamic mode of financing, was produced in the accountability court on Thursday.

Judge Munera Abbassi remanded him into the custody of NAB for 14 days.

The NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claimed that it had initiated an inquiry against the accused, Asifullah, after receiving several complaints and it had found out that the accused in connivance with others had persuaded and motivated the people to invest money in their Mudaraba businesses.

It added that the accused had promised exorbitant profit to the people on investment though they didn’t do any such business and therefore, they deprived them of their hard-earned money.

BAIL GRANTED: A Peshawar High Court bench consisting of Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Naeem Anwar suspended the sentence of a convict, Zahidullah, in a fraud case and ordered his release on bail.

The convict’s appeal against the sentence awarded by an accountability court has been pending with the high court.

In May this year, an accountability court had convicted the appellant and another accused, Sher Jan, and sentenced them to three years rigorous imprisonment each and fined them Rs7.3 million and Rs1.9 million, respectively.

Ashfaq Daudzai, lawyer for the appellant, said the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had charged his client with cheating public at large by luring them to invest their money in Islamic mode of financing and had promised them that they would be provided with attractive profits on their invested money.

He claimed that his client was falsely implicated in the case and that the evidence available on record didn’t connect him with the commission of the offence.

The lawyer said the evidence recorded by the prosecution witnesses was in conflict with each other.

He said his client was sentenced to three years imprisonment and as deciding the appeal would take time, he should be freed on bail through the suspension of the sentence.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2019