KARACHI, Oct 8: The Sindh High Court on Monday restrained the National Accountability Bureau from arresting a former head of the assets management department of the National Investment Trust Ltd in an inquiry into the sale of shares of the Pakistan Engineering Company (Peco) at throwaway rates in 2003.
A division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar also issued notices to the law secretary, NAB and the federal government law officer on a harassment petition filed by Hasan Aziz, a former NIT employee and a banker currently heading an Islamic bank.
He apprehended his arrest and humiliation at the hands of NAB officials and prayed to the court to declare the purported inquiry against him as illegal and unlawful.
The petitioner also questioned the legal authority of the NAB chairman for initiating proceedings against him.
His counsel Murtaza Wahab submitted that his client had been the head of the assets management department from 2001 to 2003. He said that on the basis of the auditor’s report and the balance sheet of 2003-2004, the petitioner along with other members of the disinvestment board recommended sale of Peco. He said no irregularity was committed in the disinvestment as the sale of Peco shares was made through registered stockbrokers of the Karachi Stock Exchange at the prevailing rates.
He contended that the decision to sell the Peco share was not made by the petitioner, nor was there any irregularity or impropriety in the sale.
Advocate Wahab said that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan later conducted an inquiry regarding the transaction but it also did not find any irregularity in the shares’ sale. However, he said that the petitioner received a notice on April 21, 2011 from the NAB deputy director (financial crime) declaring him one of the accused without even disclosing the nature of the accusations.
The counsel said that the petitioner appeared before the NAB officer and submitted his detailed reply regarding the sale of the Peco shares.He said that on Oct 5, 2012 the petitioner received a call from NAB deputy director Nadeem Ahmed Shaikh requiring him to appear before him on Oct 9.
The counsel said that there was no illegality or impropriety in the conduct of the petitioner in the sale of the shares.
The petitioner in his petition also said that he voluntarily and out of his own volition wrote to NAB and gave it details regarding the sale of shares.
The bench issued notices to the respondents and the federal government law officer and put off the hearing to Oct 16.
The bench also directed the petitioner to fully cooperate with NAB in the investigation, but ordered that the petitioner shall not be arrested in this connection till the next date of hearing.