SC grants Ali Musa bail in Ephedrine case

SC grants Ali Musa bail till Septem­ber 25, who was earlier arrested from SC premises. PHOTO: INP

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Musa Gilani on Friday was arrested, brought to court and given bail by the court; all within a couple of hours in a series of events that usually takes days if not months.

Heading a three-member bench, Justice Nasirul Mulk granted Ali Musa bail till September 25.

Ali Musa was arrested by the ANF on the premises of the Supreme Court before he could submit a plea seeking a pre-arrest bail, however, the court issued orders to the ANF and Ali Musa was brought back to the court within half an hour.

The ANF officials present there had pulled him out of his car and shackled him when he showed resistance.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court inquired from the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) as to what duty they were performing on the premises of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had summoned the ANF personnel who had arrested him.

I have faith in the Supreme Court, not ANF: Ali Musa

Speaking on the premises of the Supreme Court after his plea was admitted by the court, Ali Musa said that he had faith in the Supreme Court, but not the ANF.

He said, “I respect the courts and used to think that everyone else does, too. But, today, the camera’s eye witnessed that uniformed men committed contempt of court while being in the vicinity of the Supreme Court.”

Ali Musa said that he had come to the court alone, while he, too, could “bring a lot of people who had voted for him.”

While showing the media a bruise he had received on his leg, Ali Musa said that the ANF officials manhandled him and harassed him,

The former prime minister’s son added that he did not trust ANF, because he had requested several times to them to change his investigative officer. “The investigative officer has submitted an affidavit against me in the case, so how will he prove his own affidavit wrong?”

When asked why he wanted to submit his plea after Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Ali Musa responded that he wanted to come prepared before the court and needed to consult his lawyer regarding his petition.

Ali Musa invoked the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court against the LHC verdict which denied him a pre-arrest bail in the Ephedrine case on September 3.

Ali Musa, son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, is accused of pressuring officials of the Health Ministry in 2010 to allocate a quota of controlled chemical ephedrine to two different pharmaceutical companies.

Recently, the Supreme Court granted pre-arrest bail in the same case to Federal Minister for Textile Industry Makhdoom Shahabuddin till September 25.

Filing for a pre-arrest bail under Article 185(3) of the Constitution, Ali Musa’s counsel Khalid Ranjaha submitted that neither his client was named in the FIR nor in any of the challans submitted by the prosecution before the court.