PESHAWAR, April 16: Dismissing an appeal, an appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday upheld conviction of a former general manager of National Highway Authority Hamid Maghfoor Shah.
The appellant was convicted by an accountability court on July 16, 2001, and was sentenced to 5-year rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs33,88,900 and $232,604.
He was convicted under section 10 of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, 1999, for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The two-member appellate bench, comprising Justice Ijazul Hasan and Justice Ijaz Afzal, had reserved its judgment on Feb 13 after completion of arguments by both the parties.
The appellant claimed that the properties shown by the NAB did not belong to him, but despite that the trial court ignored the evidence of different witnesses. He claimed the foreign currency account in the National Bank of Pakistan belonged to Qazi Mahmud Maghfoor, his father, who had stated in his evidence that his two sons Zahid Maghfoor and Abid Maghfoor were abroad and the account was opened through their remittances.
About the plots, which the NAB claimed were owned by the appellant, he contended that one of those plots were acquired by Dr Mazhar Jamal, one of the wives of the appellant. He added that three sisters of Dr Jamal were abroad and it was on record that in the first instance they had sent 2,006 British pounds in 1989.
Moreover, he added, his wife was herself a practising doctor since 1976.
RECOVERY STAYED: An accountability appellate bench of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday stayed recovery of fine and confiscation of property of a former police inspector, Mehmud Hussain, convicted by an accountability court.
The bench, comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed and Justice Qaim Jan Khan, also admitted his appeal for full hearing.
The appellant was convicted on March 20 by an accountability court and was awarded 5-year rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs13.60 million along with confiscation of properties.
Mr Hussain was previously convicted by the accountability court on Nov 6, 2000, but his conviction was set aside and the case was sent back to the trial court by the high court as certain legal requirements were not fulfilled by the trial court. At that time he was sentenced to 7-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs15 million.