Hamesh’s case transfer request rejected

The request was rejected by the LHC due to presence of Justice Waqar Hassan Mir on the current bench.

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday turned down a request of Hamesh Khan’s counsel for transferring his bail petition to some other bench due to presence of Justice Waqar Hassan Mir on the current bench.

Explaining his objection, counsel Mehmood A Sheikh pointed out that Justice Mir had been representing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in cases related to Bank of Punjab loan scam. So it would not be in the interest of justice that he hear the bail petition of Hamesh Khan, a prime accused in the Rs9 billion BoP scam.  The CJ rejected the plea saying the NAB-related cases were to be fixed before his bench. However, he said Justice Waqar Hassan Mir will be replaced by some other appropriate judge.

Now the hearing on the bail petition will commence from August 23. The counsel had requested the court to fix early hearing but the CJ observed that the accused had been court absconder for years, so he should show patience instead of haste.

In his petition, Hamesh submitted that he was in NAB custody for over two moths but the bureau failed to produce any tangible evidence against him before the trial court. Therefore, he should be granted concession of bail, the counsel said.

Meanwhile, an accountability court ending physical remand of Hamesh Khan sent him to jail on judicial remand till August 23. Hamesh’s counsel requested the court to direct jail authorities to provide his client A-class in jail. However, the court asked him to approach the home department for the purpose as issuing such direction was not in court’s jurisdiction.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2010.