LAHORE: A banking court has issued bailable warrants for the arrest of a senior bureaucrat of the finance division and her husband in a case of furnishing a ‘bogus’ cheque to a private bank for repayment of a house loan.

JS Bank Limited had filed a criminal complaint against deputy secretary Sehar Mannoo and her husband, Qadeer Ashfaq, under different sections of the Financial Institution (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance 2001 and the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898.

According to the bank’s lawyer, the respondents/suspects obtained a loan of Rs90.5 million for the construction of their house.

The lawyer said the respondents failed to pay the loan as per the agreed plan and later submitted a guarantee cheque for repayment of the loan.

However, he said, the cheque, when presented before the bank concerned, was returned dishonoured for insufficient balance.

He argued that the respondents are liable to be prosecuted and punished under the law for their offence.

Both respondents did not appear before the court when the case was last taken up on Nov 18.

Banking Court-III Presiding Judge Muhammad Kashif issued bailable arrest warrants of the respondents in sum of Rs50,000 each.

The judge ordered the DIG Operations and the SHO concerned to produce the suspects on Dec 9.

“The complainant is directed to pointation of the accused persons,” the judge said in the order.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2025