Shifting of former NBP president to hospital draws SHC’s ire

Court hears plea for bail of Syed Ali Raza

KARACHI: The provincial health and prison authorities earned ire of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday for shifting the National Bank of Pakistan's (NBP) former president out of the prison and constituting medical board for his medical examination without seeking permission from the court.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had arrested former NBP president Syed Ali Raza along with four other co-accused on September 21 this year, after the Sindh High Court (SHC) cancelled their interim bail in connection with Rs18 billion corruption allegedly committed in NBP's branch in Dhaka.

Raza and 16 others, including seven Bangladeshi nationals, are facing inquiry over the alleged misappropriation between 2003 and 2012 at the NBP branch in Dhaka. The four arrested co-accused are Muhammad Wasim Khan, Imran Ghani, Dr Mirza Abrar Baig and Muhammad Imran Butt.

A two-judge bench, headed by the SHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, had revoked their bail and ordered the NAB officials to arrest them.



Later, fresh bail applications were filed seeking post-arrest bail for Raza and others.

Taking up their bail pleas on Tuesday, the SHC CJ inquired on what grounds Raza wanted his previous interim bail confirmed.

Raza's lawyer, Haider Waheed, argued that his client was seriously ill. The judges were informed that a medical board had suggested medical treatment of the petitioner in an intensive care unit. Therefore, he pleaded to the court to approve his bail and order his release from the jail on medical grounds.

Taking notice of the establishment of the medical board, the SHC top judge inquired on whose order it was constituted. Expressing displeasure, he observed that the court was never informed about such decision.

"The courts send the accused persons to jail, but the jail authorities send them to hospitals," the SHC CJ remarked.

Coming down hard on the jail authorities, the SHC CJ observed that on one hand the poor inmates were not provided a single tablet for fever and on the other hand, the jail officials shift the influential accused persons to hospitals outside the prison without even informing the court.

The bench directed the lawyers representing the NBP's former chief and other co-accused to advance arguments on their bail pleas on November 7.



 

Case history

In April this year, Raza had approached the court, apprehending his arrest by NAB. Granting him interim bail against a surety of Rs500,000 on April 3, the court had also issued notices to the NAB prosecutor-general to file a reply.

In his bail plea, the petitioner had argued that the inquiry was related to two bank employees, Zubair Ahmed and SM Jahanzeb, who were involved in illegal activities overseas, which caused losses worth Rs17 billion to the national exchequer.

Denying any role in the scam, Raza had contended that being the president of the bank, he was dependent on the group chiefs, who were supposed to check any irregularity on the part of the bank's 16,000 employees.

During the course of hearings, the NAB prosecutor had argued that the governor of State Bank of Pakistan had also complained about massive embezzlement and corruption in the Bangladesh branch of the state-owned bank.

Later, the prosecutor alleged that enough incriminating evidence was available on record to establish the role of the petitioner, Raza, and the co-accused in the scam. Therefore, he pleaded to the court to dismiss their bail applications and revoke the interim pre-arrest bail granted to the accused.