ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi has challenged in the Islamabad High Court his conviction in the Haj corruption case, saying that he was implicated in it for political reasons.

A judge of the special court central, Malik Nazir Ahmed, convicted on June 3 Kazmi, former joint secretary of the ministry of religious affairs Aftabul Islam Raja and director general Rao Shakeel of having committed Rs8.8 billion corruption in arrangements for Haj in 2009.

The court awarded 16-year imprisonment to Kazmi and Raja and also imposed a Rs140.7 million fine on each of them. Besides it sentenced Shakeel to 40-year imprisonment and imposed a Rs150.3m fine on him. Shakeel has also challenged the verdict of the special court in the IHC.

In 2012, the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of mismanagement in arrangements for Haj in 2009 and the then PPP government tasked the Federal Investigation Agency with investigating into allegations of corruption.

A case was registered leading to Kazmi’s arrest on March 15, 2011. He also spent nearly two years in prison over charges of irregularities committed in 2009.

The three accused were indicted on the charges of corruption in the Haj case on May 30, 2012.

According to the charge-sheet, Kazmi, Shakeel and Raja were indicted on the charges of fraud, cheating, misuse of authority and causing losses to the national exchequer and people. Specifically, they were accused of taking a substandard building on an exorbitant rent (for housing pilgrims in Makkah) and receiving kickbacks in the process.

In the appeal filed by Kazmi in the IHC, he states that the prosecution produced 56 witnesses in the trial court but none of them uttered even a single word against him. Besides, no evidence of the receipt of kickbacks was placed on record.

The appeal says that the prosecution failed to produce any evidence to establish that Kazmi obtained assets through illegal proceeds. It claims that a seven-member committee was responsible for taking the building on rent and Kazmi was not a member of the committee.

The appeal claims that the prosecution admitted that as minister Kazmi had only a supervisory role in the process and had nothing to do with taking the building on rent. As per Rules of Business 1973, the secretary of the ministry of religious affairs was responsible for the job.

The appeal says that Kazmi was not named in the FIR of the Haj corruption case but was later implicated in the case because of political rivalry.

Between 2010 and 2012, the Haj corruption scandal rocked the national political scene and led to the departure of Kazmi and Azam Swati of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) from the federal cabinet.

Kazmi claims in the appeal that the trial court which convicted him “appears to have been influenced by the media trial”.

The appeal says that the prosecution case regarding culpability of Kazmi was not proved, hence his conviction and the sentence awarded to him is unsustainable. It requests the IHC to set aside the conviction and honourably acquit Kazmi in the case.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2016