PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday granted interim pre-arrest bail to a real estate builder and stopped the National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from arresting him over an an inquiry into the allegation of cheating the public at large.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali issued notice to the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, director general seeking his response to a petition filed by builder Jan Alam and adjourned the heating until Nov 1.

It directed the petitioner, who is the owner of Paradise Developers and Builders, to submit two surety bonds of Rs300,000 each.

The petitioner has contended that after the recent amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, through the National Accountability (2nd Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, the bureau had no authority to conduct an inquiry or investigation against a private person.

He requested the court to declare the said inquiry illegal and a violation of the recent ordinance.

The petitioner prayed the court to restrain the NAB from forcing the petitioner to enter into plea bargain or arresting him. He has also sought pre-arrest bail till final disposal of the petition.

Advocate Ashfaq Ahmad Daudzai appeared for the petitioner and said his client ran a project by the name of Paradise City in line with the mandate of law and was duly registered with the FBR.

He said Ubaidur Rehman had begun a housing project in 2004 by the name of City Galaxy Housing Scheme on Ring Road, Peshawar, and carried out the sale and purchase of plots.

The lawyer said in 2006, the petitioner had made an agreement with Ubaidur Rehman and made huge investment with him in that project.

He added that the petitioner neither sold a single plot nor had received a single penny from that investment.

The counsel contended that his client had gone to perform Haj in 2007 and in his absence, Ubaidur Rehman sold numerous plots.

He said recently, the petitioner received a call-up notice regarding the initiation of an inquiry, so he visited the NAB’s offices and provided the required information to the investigating officer.

The lawyer said the NAB might have issued warrants for the arrest of the petitioner for ‘undue harassment’ as repeatedly, he had been threatened with dire consequences over failure to make a plea bargain with the bureau.

He argued that the initiation of the inquiry by the NAB in the instant case was unlawful as the bureau had no mandate in the matter after the promulgation of the recent ordinance.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2021