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KARACHI, Sept 15: An accountability court dismissed on Wednesday acquittal plea of a former deputy director of the FIA, being retried "for amassing huge wealth and assets through illegal and corrupt means".
Judge Ms Qaiser Iqbal of the AC-1, who is also the administrative judge of all ACs in Karachi, rejected the application for acquittal of Chaudhry Mohammed Sharif, ex-deputy director of the FIA, filed under Section 264-K of the CrPC.
She observed: "The pleas raised for acquittal of the applicant are not sustainable in law as it cannot be assumed at this stage that charge is groundless and there is no possibility of conviction of the applicant."
The defence counsel had prayed the court to acquit the accused as the authorization of investigation was granted by an unauthorized person. Special public prosecutor Nadeem Hussain Shah represented the state, while Ismat Mehdi and M Anwar Tariq, former deputy prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau, appeared as defence counsel.
Former FIA deputy director Chaudhry, Mohammed Sharif, along with two co-accused, was earlier convicted and sentenced to a 14-year term by the then judge of AC-1, Mr Qamaruddin Bohra. The co-accused were Mohammed Hanif, an FIA constable, and Mukhtar Ahmed, domestic servant of Mr Sharif.
The accused later moved an appeal against the trial court judgment in the Sindh High Court, which remanded back the case for retrial. The former FIA official, who was initially released on parole by the Jamali government and later on a bail from the Supreme Court, and the two co-accused are being retried on the orders of the Sindh High Court.
Chaudhry Sharif, who was taken into custody a little after the Oct 12 military takeover, is also charged with the remittance of an amount of Rs710 million from Pakistan to foreign countries and then bringing it back.
According to the prosecution, the accused indulged into different businesses and acquired properties in the names of his family members and a foreigner, Bastiaan Martin Van. He was also alleged to have acquired loans from the NDFC, IDBP and the NBP for the establishment of Zarak Textile Mills.
It was alleged that the former FIA deputy director held 96 per cent paid-up shares of Zarak Textile Mills, 100 per cent shares of Marman Pharma and huge shares in Kehkashan Textile Mills.
The investigation team also detected certain expenditures made by the former public servants which included huge bills of cellular phones. Besides, Chaudhry Sharif allegedly used six mobile phone numbers during 1997 and 1999.
The total amount of these phone bills was over Rs1.46 million. The former FIA official also allegedly spent over one million rupees on his domestic and international travelling by air during the period from 1997 to 1999.
COP'S MURDER CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of a murder case of a constable after recording the statement of a prosecution witness.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5, who had earlier sentenced two other accused to death in the same case, fixed Thursday for the next hearing after special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined a judicial magistrate as prosecution witness.
Judicial Magistrate Naveed Hussain Baloch, who had conducted the identification parade of the accused, was also cross-examined by defence counsel Fahim Zia. Syed Amir Hussain alias Fauji, who was arrested on Nov 8, 2003, is being tried for killing Mehboob Ali and injuring two other cops on Jan 13, 2003, in the compound of the Saudabad police station.
According to prosecution, five suspects were spotted by a Saudabad police party in a stolen car (AAB-588). The police party intercepted them and brought the suspects and their car to the police station.
It was alleged that as the accused hurled a cracker. They snatched a sub-machine gun from a constable and opened fire as smoke and dust engulfed the scene after the explosion. PC Mehboob died instantly and two other policemen were injured by the accused.
