Supreme Court Karachi Registry. PHOTO: FILE
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, gave the order while hearing a petition of the suspect, Zeeshan Karimi, who approached the apex court in appeal after the Sindh High Court (SHC) had rejected his plea to order the interior ministry to release his passport.
The national anti-graft watchdog had initiated inquiry against Karimi over his alleged involvement in Rs2.37 billion scam related to illegal sale of jet fuel. On last year December 2, the high court had granted him bail before arrest against a surety of Rs1 million with the directive to deposit his passport with the court's nazir (official).
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Advocate Amir Raza Naqvi informed the SC that the petitioner had pleaded to the SHC on March 1 to order return of his passport, as every time the petitioner needed to travel abroad, he had to move an application.
The lawyer told the apex court that Karimi had travelled abroad twice since the grant of bail, which meant that he would never abscond from the court. Advocate Karimi requested the SC to set aside the SHC's order and order release of the suspect's passport.
Opposing the plea, the NAB prosecutor, Munsif Jan, alleged that the accused had sold 1.3 million litres of jet fuel, which was purchased from the Shell petroleum company for a government institution, in the open market. The state suffered losses to the tune of Rs2.37 billion because of the suspect, the prosecutor alleged and pleaded to the court to reject Karimi's plea for return of his passport.
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Adjourning the hearing till the next session, the bench directed the NAB prosecutor to submit complete record of inquiry of the fuel sale scam.
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