ISLAMABAD: Senior officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) suppressed facts to implicate former chairman Zafar Hijazi in a case related to the Sharifs-owned Chaudhry Sugar Mills, the special court of the FIA said in a detailed judgement issued on Thursday.

The special court judge had on Nov 4 acquitted Mr Hijazi of the charges of tampering with the records of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

Judge Shahrukh Arjumand observed that SECP Executive Director Ali Azeem Ikram and Internal Audit and Compliance Department Director Maheen Fatima “were confronted with their statements recorded during the investigation and it appears that they were trying to suppress some facts”.

The FIA in July 2017 had registered the case against Mr Hijazi for closing the inquiry of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills Ltd.

The case was registered against him on the orders of the Supreme Court after the three-member Panama Papers case implementation bench acted on a report submitted by a joint investigation team.

Special Court acquitted former chairman Zafar Hijazi of the charge on Nov 4

In a report submitted to the Supreme Court in July 2017, the Federal Investigation Agency stated that Mr Hijazi had obtained the record of the mills and verbally ordered SECP officials Maheen Fatima and Ali Azeem Ikram in the presence of Abid Hussain and Tahir Mehmood for backdated closure of the investigation into the case.

The note, dated Jan 14, 2013, was prepared and sent on June 29 and June 30, 2016, by the SECP’s Corporate Supervision Depart­ment Additional Director Tariq Ahmad via email to Internal Audit and Compliance Department Director Maheen Fatima, the report said.

The court order noted: “Admittedly, Ali Azeem Ikram and Maheen Fatima prepared the final note in backdate regarding closure of the inquiry, but the said officials are neither accused nor were the approver in the case; rather they are prosecution witnesses. Both the said officials till date have not explained that why they obeyed illegal orders of their boss and what kind of serious pressure was upon them which compelled them to prepare the backdate note?”

The court further noted that Mr Hijazi “as per record is not a signatory of any document in the whole matter and, therefore, heavy duty rests on the shoulders of the prosecution to show that he pressureised his subordinates for tampering with the record”.

The judge observed that the “officials admitted that the inquiry was already closed but formal noting was not done and in order to set the record straight, the note was prepared subsequently, under the pressure of the accused [Hijazi] facing trial, but being responsible officers they have failed to establish this thing that the accused influenced them for preparing the note in the back date”.

The court concluded that “from the statements of the witnesses and record, it is clear that the accused had no role at all in the issuance of said note”.

It may be mentioned that the former SECP chairman was nominated in the case after he, in May 2017, had disclosed that the Supreme Court’s registrar made him a WhatsApp call and conveyed him the directions that the name of Bilal Rasool should be included in the SECP’s panel for the JIT. The apex court had sought nominations from the FIA, National Accountability Bureau, SECP, State Bank of Pakistan, Military Intelli­gence and Inter-Services Intelligence to constitute a six-member team to probe allegations of the money laundering against Mr Sharif.

The case against Mr Hijazi was registered on July 10, 2017, and he was taken into custody on July 21.

On Oct 27, 2017, the Special Court had framed charges against Mr Hijazi for tampering with the record of the sugar mills.

Mr Hijazi had pleaded not guilty after the judge indic­ted him under Section 420 (cheating), Section 466 (forgery) and Section 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 5(2)(47) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2023