ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to two former members of the Pakistan Telecommuni­cation Authority (PTA) in a case relating to the auction of fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology (4G).

An IHC division bench, comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, observed that the replies of the National Accountability Bureau and the federal government were inconsistent with each other and perusal of NAB’s reply showed that the bureau had planned to drag Ishaq Dar and Anusha Rehman in the case.

Earlier, the court had granted pre-arrest interim bail to petitioners Abdul Samad Khan and Amjad Khan in the case.

When the court inquired whether the incumbent PTA chairman was also an accused in this case as he had renewed the licence in 2019, the investigation officer replied that in case NAB found any incriminating evidence, the PTA chairman would surely be arrested.

“As per NAB’s case, the beneficiary of the 4G auction is Warid cellular network. Do you know who owns this company and can NAB issue a notice to them?” Justice Minallah asked the investigation officer.

The investigation officer replied that the auction had caused a loss of Rs50 billion to the national exchequer and they were taking action on the basis of evidence in hand.

“Your documents prima facie show mala fide intentions and your reply demonstrates that this exercise is being done for some other reasons,” the judges remarked.

“We have made it clear that NAB does not have unfettered powers of arrest and they should not pick and choose the suspects facing a particular inquiry,” he said.

When the bench inquired whether the statement of the information technology secretary was recorded in the case, the investigation officer replied that he had visited the secretary’s office and the latter was thinking of giving an appropriate response.

At this, Justice Aurangzeb expressed displeasure over the ignorance of the NAB’s investigation officer and pointed out that the secretary had already submitted a detailed reply in this case.

The court observed that as per the reply, the ministry did not endorse NAB’s stance.

The bench then confirmed the pre-arrest bail of both accused persons.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2019