The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted Kazmi interim bail till February 28 against Rs100, 000 surety bonds.
During the course of hearing, the former minister appeared before the Special Judge FIA through his legal counsel, and informed the IHC that he had been granted protective bail on February 17, which ended yesterday (February 21).
Pleading innocence, Kazmi requested the court to grant him bail as he was not nominated in First Information Report (FIR) and was being wrongly accused of involvement in the case. He also added that he had been cooperating with investigators from day one.
The former minister told the court that he did not make any major transaction after being elected Member National Assembly (MNA).
He said that he had not appointed former Director-General Hajj Rao Shakeel who is also allegedly involved in the scam, adding that the appointment was in fact made by Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Kazmi also informed the court that two witnesses recorded their statements before the FIA, confirming that he had no connection with the scam. However, the judge directed FIA to submit a complete report on the next date of hearing.
The former minister was recently fired by the prime minister in connection with the Hajj scandal after the Supreme Court took suo motto notice of the issue.
Meanwhile, the court also granted interim bail to Zain Sukhera, a friend of PM Gilani’s son, one of the main accused in the rip-off.
On February 17 Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi of IHC had granted Sukhera protected bail till February 21 and directed him to approach a trial court. The IHC also granted bail to Abdullah Khokhar, Kazmi’s brother-in-law against Rs200,000 security bonds.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2011.
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