PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday ordered removal of the name of Senator Azam Khan Swati from Exit Control List (ECL) on condition of submitting a bond of Rs50 million.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal issued the order after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) submitted a report about ongoing probe into alleged misappropriation of funds from the district accounts office, Upper Kohistan, claiming that Mr Swati had received payments to the tune of Rs306 million in his bank account last year from a contractor, Mohammad Ayub, the prime accused in the case, and his representative Sheikh Shahid Farooq.

Mr Swati had challenged placement of his name in ECL by federal government, contending that the act was illegal and unconstitutional. Barrister Waqar Ali Khan appeared for the petitioner whereas NAB was represented by the deputy prosecutor general, Mohammad Ali, special prosecutor Arbab Kaleemullah and investigation officer Inayatullah.

Barrister Waqar said that recently Mr Swati intended to travel abroad for medical treatment but he was offloaded at Islamabad airport on the ground that his name was placed on ECL by federal government. He stated that his client was regularly appearing in cases registered against him and was on bail in all those cases. He added that now the petitioner came to know that he was charged in another case in Islamabad.

Directs him to submit Rs50 million bond

Barrister Waqar contended that Mr Swati was also elected senator in the recently-held Senate polls in the province. He stated that the petitioner had earlier received a call-up notice from NAB on June 17, which was challenged in high court. He added that the court directed the bureau not to arrest the petitioner in the said case.

The counsel said that last year the petitioner’s name was placed on ECL and other travel restriction lists, but the same was declared by PHC as illegal and unconstitutional in the current year.

He said that high court had ruled that mere pendency of criminal cases against a citizen was no ground to deny him freedom to travel within or outside Pakistan.

The NAB representatives contended that the bureau was investigating involvement of the petitioner in the case related to misappropriation of funds in Upper Kohistan. They stated that Mr Swati had claimed that he had sold his house situated in Abbottabad on Oct 2, 2016, to one Mehtab Shah and transferred it to Mohammad Ayub on Oct 25, 2016.

They said that Mr Swati had claimed that Mehtab was his trusted person and he had not met Ayub until 2024.

They said that the purchaser of the property, Ayub, not only orally confirmed but also produced two documents of Feb and May, 2024, containing details of mode of final payment , which confirmed that all the payments for the said house was completed on May 3, 2024 and nothing was remaining in that regard.

However, they said that the bank record of the petitioner revealed that he had received Rs306 million from Ayub and his representative Sheikh Shahid after May 2024 till Oct 24, 2024.

They alleged that the petitioner had not only willfully signed a backdated mutation of Nov 28, 2016 in the year 2024 but also defended it in his appearance before NAB by stating that it was executed in the year 2016.

They contended that the Kohistan scam was presently one of the biggest embezzlement cases in the country as around Rs40 billion had been misappropriated by scores of suspects.

They argued that if at that stage the petitioner was allowed to go abroad, it would affect the ongoing probe in the matter.

Published in Dawn, Aug 1st, 2025