PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday dismissed a petition of Syed Masoom Shah, a detained former special assistant to former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti, against the delay in the final nod to his plea bargain application by the relevant accountability court despite its approval by National Accountability Bureau chairman.

Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan also turned down the detainee’s plea for release on bail until the final decision by the accountability court on the plea bargain application.

Last month, the NAB chairman had accepted plea bargain of Syed Masoom Shah, who was a special assistant to the then chief minister, Ameer Haider Hoti, on the condition of returning Rs258.7 million of his ill-gotten wealth to the government.

The bureau had referred the issue to an accountability court presided over by Judge Mohammad Ibrahim Khan for final approval under section 25 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

Former assistant to ex-CM Hoti had filed petition against an accountability court

Initially, the court had raised certain technical objections and sought clarity from the NAB. After the bureau had clarified those technical issues the court had few days ago raised certain questions regarding the credentials of the persons, who had given bank guarantees on behalf of the petitioner.

The petitioner was arrested on Aug 11, 2015 on the charge of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

His counsel contended before the high court that after acceptance of his plea bargain by the bureau’s chairman he had deposited Rs91.7 million with the bureau in shape of a bank draft. Furthermore, he added that petitioner had submitted bank guarantees to the tune of Rs150 million, whereas gold recovered from the petitioner by the bureau was to the tune of Rs14 million.

The lawyer said under the NAB Law the application of plea bargain was referred to the court for final approval because the accused person was in custody of the court and only the court was empowered to set him free.

He argued that once the NAB chairman had given approval to the plea bargain the accountability court could not delay the matter.

He argued that the trial court had raised certain questions which were not in its jurisdiction.

A deputy prosecutor general of NAB, Mohammad Jamil Khan, contended that the bureau had been preparing detailed reply to the questions posed by the accountability court. He added that the petitioner had filed the petition in haste and he should have waited for the outcome of the application before the trial court.

He stated the role of trial court in giving final approval of a plea bargain application could not be ignored. He also opposed the petitioner’s plea to set him free on bail and contended that so far his plea bargain application had not been finally decided.

PETITION DISMISSED: The bench also dismissed a writ petition filed by a former regional tax officer of Abbottabad, Mohammad Siddique, who was seeking bail in a case of possessing alleged illegal assets.

The bench directed the trial court to complete his trial within four months.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that initially he was arrested by the NAB on the charge of misusing his authority and his assets were also frozen in that case. He added that he was granted bail by the high court in that case but subsequently he was again arrested by the bureau on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

He contended that the charges against the petitioner were almost identical in nature and he was entitled to be set free on bail.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016