ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday briefly detained Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Assembly Chaudhry Mohammad Yaseen in a financial scam related to a private housing society after he withdrew the application seeking pre-arrest bail.

Mr Yaseen was the chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Housing Society from 2004 to 2015.

He was also an active and prominent politician and held the portfolio of senior minister in the AJK government. In September last year, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari appointed him president of the PPP AJK chapter.

The FIA accused Yaseen of corruption in the affairs of the housing society.

Special Judge Central Raja Asif Mehmood was hearing the application filed by Mr Yaseen seeking pre-arrest bail. During the course of the hearing, Chaudhry Mohammad Yaseen’s counsel pointed out that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had decided an identical matter and granted bail in a similar case.

He requested the court to allow withdrawal of the bail petition in the light of the said judgement.

However, the counsel could not provide the copy of the IHC’s decision.

The judge, on the other hand, dismissed the application as the counsel requested for withdrawal.

Subsequently, the FIA officials present inside the courtroom detained Yaseen, however, he was later allowed to leave.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2022