LAHORE, April 7: An accountability bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday fixed April 15 for hearing arguments of the NAB counsel on PPP Secretary-General Jehangir Badr’s appeal, seeking review of trial court’s orders on his application for amendments to the chargesheet.
Last month, the accountability court had dismissed Badr’s application, seeking certain amendments to the chargesheet of a NAB reference. The accused had pleaded that certain properties included in the chargesheet were acquired by him when he was not a public office holder, and these should be deleted. However, the application was turned down on the grounds that he (Badr) could be tried even in the capacity of a ‘private’ person, and could not get away with a claim that he had acquired these properties when he did not enjoy any public office.
The NAB counsel, Javed Shaukat Malik, argued in the court that it did not have the jurisdiction to review these orders of the trial court. He sought time for making detailed arguments, and the proceedings were put off till the next hearing.
Earlier, petitioner’s counsel Sheikh Ziaullah submitted that the accountability court erred in passing orders against his application for amendment to the chargesheet, and did not apply its judicial mind. The trial court did not use its jurisdiction to delete those properties from the chargesheet, which were not covered by the NAB Ordinance and upheld the prosecution’s arguments without any legal justification, he argued.
According to him, the appellate court had the power to review a trial court’s orders passed without any legal reasoning since the LHC was the only platform the accused could consult for relief after being denied by the trial court. Badr has already been granted bail in this reference, accusing him of amassing assets worth Rs50 million abusing his official position.
He allegedly purchased a plot of Rs50,000 at Rehman villas and later sold it for Rs100,000 in 2000, and acquired another 10-marla plot at Allama Iqbal Town on which he constructed a house at a cost of Rs350,000. He sold this house as well at exorbitant rates.
According to the chargesheet, the accused purchased a house worth Rs2 million at Allama Iqbal Town in 1994, and spent Rs2.5 million on its renovation. Besides, he acquired a plot of 2.3 kanals at Ali Town and gave it to his son Zulfiqar Badr for Rs600,000. The NAB alleged that Badr purchased two plots of Rs440,000 and Rs125,000 at Rehman Plaza (Queens Road) and Advocates Society, respectively, in the name of his son.
He allegedly declared Rs1.5 million worth foreign exchange bearer certificates in the annual income tax return while millions of rupees were deposited with his own bank accounts from 1994 to 1999. He had been to the US, UK, Canada, Denmark and other countries with his family, spending Rs1.6 million, it is alleged.