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KARACHI, Sept 18: Two accused men being prosecuted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for purchasing five faulty Jumbo airliners for Pakistan International Airlines were on Tuesday granted bail by a division bench of the Sindh High Court.
The bench, comprised of Justices Mohammed Afzal Soomro and Mrs Qaiser Iqbal, ordered that former Cathay-Pacific representative Darayus Cyrus Minwala be released on bail subject to his furnishing security to the sum of Rs10 million and two sureties in the same amount.
The interim pre-arrest bail allowed to former PIA director M. Rashid Hasan was confirmed. Advocates Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Abdus Sattar Pirzada and Mahmood A. Qureshi appeared for the applicants.
The bench noted in its order that was reserved last Friday that both the applicants were ill and over 60 years of age. Relying on their medical record, it observed that they require round-the-clock healthcare to prevent an emergency. On merit, it said, the record of the bank that transferred the kickbacks allegedly given by one accused to another had not been seized.
A vital piece of direct evidence which could link the accused to the commission of the alleged offence had thus been lost or was not available to the prosecution. Accused Rashid Hasan had retired from his job before the impugned transaction was finalised.
The aircraft purchase deal passed through normal procedures and was approved by the high-level committee appointed by the government. The bench also referred to the judicial determination made by the Royal Court of the offshore island of Jersey.
Mengal’s petition
A division bench of the Sindh High Court adjourned on Tuesday the hearing of former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s petition against his jail trial to Sept 27.
The petitioner has challenged the validity of Section 15(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which authorises the government to conduct trials in jails, as being repugnant to the fundamental right of fair and open trial. Besides, he submitted through Advocate Rasheed A. Razvi, the notification requiring his jail trial for allegedly kidnapping two army personnel gave no reason for discarding proceedings in the anti-terrorism court premises. He said that all four of the accused had been tried and convicted after open trial but an exception had been made in his case.
The federal and provincial attorneys, who were on notice, failed to appear and a division bench comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Abdul Rashid Kalwar ordered that the notices issued to them be repeated for Sept 27.
