ISLAMABAD: The Special Court of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to the brother of the former ISI chief in a corruption case.

The ACE court had on Monday dismissed the pre-arrest bail petition of retired Naib Tehsildar Najaf Hameed, brother of former ISI chief retired Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, in the case in which he is accused of abetting the former minister for mineral resources, Hafiz Ammar Yasir, in accumulation of assets through corruption.

The FIR alleged that the former minister acquired properties worth billions of rupees in the names of his benamidars Ubaidur Rehman, Abdul Manan, Roman Ahmed, Mohammad Saad, Omar Habib, Talha Zubair and Mehboob Ahmed.

The FIR stated that the properties were shown undervalued in the revenue record in connivance with officials namely former vice chairman of Municipal Corporation of Chakwal Zahid Mehmood Awan, Patwaris Malik Abdul Jalil, Zahid Iqbal, Zawar Hussain, Zafar Ali Khan, Gardawar Sarfraz Ahmed and former Naib Tehsildar Najaf Hameed.

The accused belonging to the revenue department filed pre-arrest bail petitions before Special Judge of Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Ali Nawaz Bikhar. The court granted interim bail to all the accused except Najaf as he was not present at the time of the hearing of the case.

The judicial magistrate sent Najaf to Adiala jail on judicial remand.

The accused, however, filed the post-arrest bail plea on the same date and the court issued notice to the Anti-Corruption Establishment for Wednesday and, after hearing the stance of the prosecution, granted Najaf post-arrest bail against a surety bond of Rs200,000.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2024