LAHORE, Feb 15: An accountability court on Saturday exempted interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat from personal appearance in the court for the rest of the proceedings of a NAB reference.
The minister had already been exempted from appearance in the court for Saturday’s proceedings on grounds that he was to leave for Iran on an official visit and would not be able to appear in the court. However, he volunteered to appear in the court on Saturday, as the visit was postponed.
Judge Rana Zahid Mahmood observed that the accused was being exempted from personal appearance on condition that he would be summoned by the court as and when required. Advocate Sadia Malik was allowed to plead the case for the minister.
The court inquired of the minister as to why had he not turned up on previous hearings despite being summoned. Mr Faisal argued that he had not been able to appear since he had to attend urgent official meetings in Islamabad.
The court observed that there were certain legal formalities which the accused had to fulfil in order to avail exemption from personal appearance in the court.
“You kept the court waiting for too long for your personal appearance, without which the verdict on application could not have been delivered legally. However, the court is allowing the application under Section 540-A of the CrPC following your appearance,” the judge ordered.
The court summoned the prosecution for Feb 24. Some seven witnesses have testified against the accused so far.
Faisal Saleh Hayat is the second NAB-accused who has been exempted from personal appearance in the court after PML-N’s Makhdoom Javed Hashmi whose application was allowed in December, when the trial against him was also adjourned sine die.
Earlier, the court was told by minister’s counsel Khwaja Harris that the official visit to Iran had been postponed and his client wanted to appear in the court to hear the verdict on his application. The court adjourned the proceedings for two hours to facilitate the accused.
The prosecutor, S.M. Nazim, objected to the grant of exemption to the accused for Saturday’s proceedings in his absence. He contended that the application should not have been allowed without a notice to the prosecution.
BADAR: An accountability court reserved its verdict till Feb 21, on an application of PPP secretary-general Jehangir Badar for amendment in the chargesheet against him.
Both the parties had completed their arguments on the application.
Mr Badar argued before the court that in this reference, he had been accused of amassing wealth that was disproportionate to his known sources of income, in his capacity as an MNA and a senator during 1988-90 and 1996-1999.
According to the accused, the prosecution had included certain properties in the chargesheet which had been acquired during 1990-96, when he was not holding a public office. He sought amendment to the chargesheet saying that those properties be deleted from the chargesheet.
He also cited the case of former MNA Haji Kabir, saying that the chargesheet against him had been amended by the court on similar grounds.
According to him, a maximum of three transactions could be mentioned as illegal in a chargesheet under ordinary criminal law whereas the NAB had accused him of carrying out some 11 such transactions, which could not be allowed.
Prosecutor Asad Manzoor Butt rebutted these submissions, saying that NAB could try Badar both in the capacity of the holder of a public office and an ordinary man.
He further argued that Section 3 of the NAB Ordinance gave it overriding powers over ordinary law and authorized the prosecution to include 11 transactions of the accused in the chargesheet. The accused could not claim relief by citing Haji Kabir’s case which was not relevant to his, argued the counsel.
AWAN: Former provincial minister Mushtaq Awan’s application for release on parole was rejected by the court saying that it was not the appropriate legal forum to be approached in this regard.