KARACHI, April 27: A division bench of the Sindh High Court disposed of as withdrawn a revision petition moved by former MNA Hakim Ali Zardari against a banking court’s decision rejecting his plea for quashment of a case against him.

According to the prosecution, a loan of about Rs 100,000 was obtained by Mr Zardari from the Commerce Bank in 1973 by hypothecating his shares in the Eastern Federal Union insurance company. He could not repay the loan and also transferred his shares. The Commerce Bank was later merged into the United Bank Limited and the latter sued him for recovery of the loan. An FIR was lodged in February 1997 and Mr Zardari repaid the entire amount due in June 1997.

A special court for offences in respect of banks, meanwhile, took cognizance of the case and commenced Mr Zardari’s trial. The accused moved for quashment of the case as there was no amount outstanding and there was no criminal liability. The bank, however, dismissed his plea and he approached the high court against the decision.

Advocate Farroq H. Naek argued before an SHC division bench, comprising Justices Rehmat Hussain Jafferi and Ali Sain Dino Metlo, that the case was at worst of civil liability and that no banking fraud was involved. The special bank had no jurisdiction to proceed with the case.

The bench observed that an offence had allegedly been committed and the trial court would decide the matter after considering the evidence produced before it. As for the issue of jurisdiction, the accused was free to agitate it before the trial court. Mr Naek sought to withdraw the petition and the bench allowed him to do so.

detention case: The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notice to a federal attorney in a petition alleging detention of a man by military intelligence officials.

Petitioner Mohammad Sadiq alleged that his son-in-law, Mohammad Ramzan, was in the custody of military intelligence in Hyderabad cantonment. His counsel, Abdul Waheed, stated that Ramzan underwent sentence under the Foreigners Act. Since his jail term ended in 2000, the law enforcement agencies were transferring his custody from one place to another. When a notice is served on one agency, it transfers his custody to another. It has also come to the petitioner’s knowledge that Ramzan was declared a terrorist by a notification published in newspapers and a reward of Rs 500,000 was announced for information leading to his arrest.

The court was requested to direct Major Abdul Qadir Mehar alias Major Abdul Majeed Lashari of MI Hyderabad cantonment to appear before court for recording his statement regarding Ramzan’s detention.

An SHC division bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, issued a notice to a deputy attorney-general for May 10 for comments.