HYDERABAD: The Hyder-abad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday granted bail to businessman Iqbal Z. Ahmed, his two sons and three others in a graft case, for a sum of Rs1 million each.

A division bench comprising Justices Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Khadim Hussain Tunio on Thursday allowed through a short order the bails, which were dismissed earlier by Hyderabad accountability court on Nov 16.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had field an interim reference against the six accused Iqbal Z. Ahmed, his sons Fasihuddin Ahmed and Raziuddin Ahmed; Asim Iftikhar, Qazi Humanyun Fareed and Salamat Ali — officials and employees of internationally reputed companies namely Pakistan GasPort Construction (PGPC), Lub Gas (Pvt) Ltd., Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) and Mehran LPG (Pvt) Ltd. — under Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020, on Jan 24, 2020, accusing them of indulging in corruption and corrupt practices as defined under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

The applicant’s counsel, Farooq H. Naek, said that NAB had filed a supplementary reference on Nov 9, 2020, against two more persons, Tariq Mehmood (deceased) and Mohammad Ramzan. The six accused were granted bail by Sindh High Court on March 31, 2020, and they had joined the trial in Hyderabad, he said.

Iqbal Z. Ahmed, others were denied relief by accountability court last week

He said that during proceedings of reference (No.1/2020) the NAO, 1999, was amended through National Accountability (Amendment) Act 2022 on June 22, 2022, and National Accoun-tability (Second Amendment) Act, 2022, on Aug 12, 2022.

Consequently, on July 26, 2022, the applicants filed applications under relevant sections of National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2020, in the light of NAO amendments in the accountability court seeking return of the reference to NAB chairman but the court dismissed their application.

He said the applicants had challenged the dismissal order in the SHC, which allowed their petition on April 26, 2023, and the reference was returned to NAB chairman for passing of appropriate orders.

Thereafter, he said, after return of the reference, surety of applicants filed applications in this court for the return of surety and the application for the return of surety was allowed on Aug 8 and 30, but the bails granted earlier to the applicants were recalled without any notice. No notice was issued to the applicants for withdrawal of surety to enable them to furnish a fresh surety, he argued.

On Sept 15, 2023, Supreme Court passed judgement on a petition, striking down some sections of National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022, and National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act, 2022, which reverted the applicants’ reference to its original position.

The counsel said that the applicants learnt about recall of the bail order on Nov 10 and then filed bail applications in the accountability court while fearing arrest by the NAB but the court dismissed their pleas on Nov 11 and they were taken into custody.

He contended that the applicants were already on bail prior to return of the reference to NAB as the bails were granted by Sindh High Court on merit through a common order on March 31.

He said the accountability court erred by not appreciating the fact that the bail was not recalled on any other grounds and as such the same grounds on which the bail was allowed were available which were never discarded in the Aug 8 and 30, 2023, order.

Naek said that the reasoning for the grant of bail was intact and not set aside on any grounds. The applicants’ case did not fall under the purview of NAO, 1999, even after Sept 15, 2023, SC verdict, as it came within the ambit of exceptions provided under Section 2 of National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022.

He said that Iqbal Z. Ahmed was 77 years old and Qazi Humayun Farid was 80 years of age and both were suffering from multiple diseases. Hence, the court was requested to allow post-arrest bail to applicants in the reference pending before the accountability court, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2023