Ruling reserved in Hijazi’s bail plea

It is expected that the decision will be announced on August 7

ISLAMABAD: A special court reserved its verdict on the post-arrest bail application of the suspended chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Zafarul Haq Hijazi in a case pertaining to tampering of record of Chaudhry Sugar Mills owned by the Sharif family.

The special court which takes cognisance of the cases related to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) reserved the verdict after the counsel for the suspect and the FIA concluded their arguments. The court is expected to announce its decision on August 7.

On July 21, the FIA had arrested Hijazi after dismissal of his bail application by the Special Court Central for allegedly tampering records of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills owned by the family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.



Hijazi’s counsel said that the FIA had arrested Hijazi without any solid reason and “the real culprits” were still working in the SECP. The counsel further said that Hijazi is 64 years old, has had a kidney transplant in 2001, has developed diabetes mellitus type-2, needs specialised medicine and his detention would endanger his life.

He requested the court to release Hijazi on bail as the FIA had already completed the probe and the suspect is in Adiala jail on judicial remand.

The FIA's counsel opposed the bail plea saying that Hijazi was directly responsible for record tampering.

Following the arguments, the court reserved order on the application which is expected to be announced on August 7.