Interior ministry official case: Court seeks reply from FIA

Official has been charged of freeing a British-court convict from Pakistani jail

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to submit a reply on a petition of a former official of the interior ministry challenging a collective imprisonment of 23 years on charges of freeing a British-court convict from jail after he was transferred to Pakistan from the United Kingdom.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb directed the FIA to submit reply by August 19 in the case.

Special judge (Central) Malik Nazir Ahmed sentenced the former section officer of interior ministry, Ali Muhammad Malik, to a total of 23 years of imprisonment on four counts in connection with his involvement in tempering the official record.

In the appeal against the conviction, Malik through his counsel had requested the court to set aside the verdict.

The counsel, while talking to the media outside the court said that not a single witness gave a statement against Malik, the FIA did not produce original documents before the special court and the court convicted Malik on the basis of photocopies of the original record submitted before it.

The special court had convicted Malik under sections 468, 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for seven years each, and awarded imprisonment for two years under section 201 of the PPC.

The court has imposed a fine of Rs300,000 each under sections 468 and 471, and Rs50,000 under section 201 of the PPC.

In case of failure to pay the fine, Malik will further undergo one year imprisonment each under sections 468 and 471. The failure in paying the fine would also result in six months imprisonment.

Under section 5(2) of the Prevention of the Corruption Act, 1947, Malik will spend seven years in jail and pay a fine of Rs200,000.

Failure in paying the amount will result in one year imprisonment. The court ruled that all the sentences will run concurrently.

The court has also extended benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code to the suspects.

According to the prosecution, the section officer was responsible of dealing with the cases related to bilateral agreement on repatriation of prisoners between Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

The prosecution added that a British court had convicted a man, Qamar Abbas, after narcotics were seized from his possession.

The prisoner was brought to Pakistan from the UK to complete his sentence but the section officer of the interior ministry managed his release.

Abbas has also been convicted under sections 468, 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for seven years imprisonment each and a fine of Rs300,000 was imposed on him.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2016.