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LAHORE, March 19: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the FIA director-general to take notice of the agency’s failure to recover money from those arrested on charges of sending Pakistanis abroad illegally.
It observed that the immigration cell of the FIA had never recovered a penny from the accused.
“The situation needs immediate attention and the DG is directed to take effective measures in this regard,” it observed.
The court gave these directions after it was informed by petitioners Sajjad Nabi and Muhammad Asghar that the FIA had not yet returned them Rs420,000 collected by the two arrested accused for sending them to Cyprus.
The court also granted bail to accused Ismail and Salman with the observation that no further recovery was to be made from them and bound them to cooperate with the investigating authorities.
WITNESSES SUMMONED: The Lahore High Court summoned witnesses along with relevant record on March 25 on a petition challenging the return of PML-N’s candidate Sheikh Amjad Aziz from PP-156.
PML-Q’s candidate Haroon Akhtar Khan claimed that Sheikh Amjad was not a graduate and had got the permission from the returning officer concerned for contesting election through fake means.
According to the petitioner, Sheikh Amjad failed twice in his intermediate examination. There was no evidence available to confirm his third appearance in the examination.
“How can a candidate, failing twice in intermediate examination, pass the BSc examination with distinction with mathematics A and B, and statistics as major subjects?” he said.
He alleged that on the last day of filing of nomination papers, Sheikh Amjad moved an application before the returning officer, saying he had lost all his original educational certificates, including his BSc degree.
Sheikh Amjad appended an FIR to this effect along with his application. He requested the returning officer to accept his nomination papers while believing the authenticity of facts stated in the application.
Haroon Akhtar Khan claimed that the Punjab University’s record did not confirm that Sheikh Amjad had ever appeared in the BSc examination and his clearance for contesting elections was based on a wrong presumption by the returning officer concerned.
Faisal Saleh: The proceedings of a wilful default reference filed before an accountability court against Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat resumed on Wednesday, after a gap of four and a half months.
The senior vice-president of United Bank Limited, Mohammed Siraj, testified against the minister as the eight prosecution witness.
Siraj in his testimony alleged that the accused had defaulted in the payment of loan obtained in the name of Shah Jewna Textile Mills, and the UBL, in the capacity of an intermediary, had to pay four consecutive instalments to the State Bank on his behalf. According to the witness, a rescheduling agreement was reached at between the UBL and the accused, but the latter defaulted again after which the present reference was filed against him. The witness will be cross-examined by the defence counsel on March 29.
In this reference, the minister along with his nine family members has been accused of having defaulted to the tune of Rs241.07 million in the payment of a loan obtained in the name of Shah Jewna Textile Mills during 1991. He has been further alleged of misusing his official position as holder of a public office while getting loan in violation of rules.
