Money laundering case: Ayyan Ali case hearing adjourned for 20 days

Ayyan informed the court that she had secured a stay order from the Lahore High Court against her indictment

RAWALPINDI:

The hearing in money-laundering case against model Ayyan Ali could not be started on Wednesday as the accused had obtained a stay order against the charges levelled against her from a high court.

Customs Court Special Judge Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan adjourned the hearing till January 26 after the model through her legal team informed the court that she had secured a stay order from the Lahore High Court (LHC) against her indictment.

Sardar Khurram Latif Khosa, one of her counsels, argued that his client had challenged the charges against her in the high court and the file of the case had been summoned by the court in Lahore.

He added that in the petition Ayyan had pleaded that the trial court had indicted her in the currency smuggling case in haste, and without deciding her pending applications.

Khosa maintained that as per law no trial court could frame charges against an accused without deciding the fate of applications pending with the court.

“The LHC had summoned Ayyan Ali case file from the trial court that is why the judge could not start formal trial on Wednesday and adjourned the case till January 26,” Ayyan’s lawyer said.

The model was arrested at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad for allegedly trying to smuggle $506,800 via Dubai-bounded flight.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2016.