PESHAWAR: An accountability court here on Friday turned down the bail plea of an accused arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in a rent-a-car business fraud case.

The court presided over by judge Kulsoom Azam observed that accused/petitioner Samiullah was not entitled to the concession of bail on the basis of the available record.

A NAB prosecutor, Habibullah Baig told the court that the accused was chief executive officer of a private company, who along with another accused, Mansoor Akhtar Danish, received money from 66 people by making attractive profit offers on their investment.

The prosecutor claimed that the suspects provided profits to the investors for some time, but stopped them afterwards and disappeared. He claimed that the accused persons had embezzled around Rs77.7 million.

The NAB prosecutor said that two years ago, the accountability watchdog had ordered the arrest of Samiullah, but he could not be apprehended as he was at large.

He said a few days ago the accused had filed a pre-arrest bail plea with the court, but it was rejected leading to his arrest by the bureau. He argued that the evidence on record connected the accused with the commission of the offence and he did not deserve to be set free on bail.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022