On February 10, a division bench of the high court dismissed the bail petition of Shah after it was informed that the final authority of approving plea bargains rests with the accountability court. PHOTO: PPI
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court issued notice to interior secretary for putting the name of former adviser to chief minister Syed Masoom Shah on the Exit Control List (ECL) and sought a reply from him.
The bench, comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan, heard a petition on Tuesday.
Petitioner’s counsel Barrister Waqar told the court Shah’s name was placed on ECL after he was charged over misuse of authority and accumulating illegal assets beyond his known source of income.
Waqar said he reached a plea bargain agreement with National Accountability Bureau but his name was still not removed from the list.
He added Shah’s name was put on the list on the orders of the high court and not on NAB’s request.
The attorney requested the bench to remove his name from ECL as he has signed a plea bargain agreement and paid Rs258 million. The bench, after hearing the arguments, issued notice to interior minister to file its reply.
Earlier, the court released Shah following a plea bargain agreement with NAB. The former adviser was arrested by NAB on August 11, 2015 on charges of accumulating assets beyond his known source of income.
The accumulated wealth includes, a house and a hujra on a land of 12 kanals in his village in Battagram, two plots in Hayatabad, two plots in Regi Model Town, the same number of plots in Defence Housing Authority in Karachi and one house each in Rawalpindi and Peshawar.
Shah also accumulated a huge bank balance in local and foreign accounts and drove around in expensive cars. Subsequently, he offered to voluntarily return Rs258 million under a plea bargain with NAB.
However, the NAB court had later rejected the deal. The former adviser filed a petition challenging the dismissal of his plea bargain. The high court accepted Shah’s petition on March 14, 2016 and returned the case to the NAB court. On February 10, a division bench of the high court dismissed the bail petition of Shah after it was informed that the final authority of approving plea bargains rests with the accountability court.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2016.
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