Fake guarantees: NATO fuel supplier granted bail

Azam Khan was remanded to judicial custody on October 14, 2015, following his arrest in connection with the inquiry

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) granted on Friday bail to a private contractor engaged in supplying fuel to the NATO forces in Afghanistan in a case relating to fake guarantees.

The Federal Investigation Agency had lodged a case on the complaint of the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) legal department, which claimed that Azam Khan, proprietor of Menghal Transport Company, had furnished fake bank guarantees worth Rs1.3 billion in order to win the contract to supply fuel to the NATO forces.



Khan was remanded to judicial custody on October 14, 2015, following his arrest in connection with the inquiry. He, however, moved an application seeking bail on grounds that the matter needed further inquiry. He claimed that his continuous detention for over two months is a violation of the fundamental rights as guaranteed in Articles 4, 9, 10, 14 and 25 of the Constitution.

A division bench, headed by Justice Shahnawaz Tariq, granted bail to the applicant subject to furnishing surety in the sum of Rs20 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2016.