Atif Aziz Polani, one of the men accused in Pakistan’s biggest foreign currency scam, was granted bail against Rs10 million and a personal bond by the High Court of Sindh (SHC) on Monday. He was booked under sections 5, 8, 22 and 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 read with sections 7, 8 and 20 of PECO (Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007) besides sections 409, 420, 467, 471 477-A /34 of the PPC registered at the FIA, Crime Circle police station.
The FIR emnated from an inquiry on the complaint by the State Bank of Pakistan in which it was alleged that a licensed company Al-Sahara is doing the illegal business of transferring money in collusion with different banks, exchange companies, money changers and private parties.
The accused men were alleged to be using a Wallsoft software for their online money transfers.
Polani’s lawyer Shaukat H Zuberi argued that the section mentioned in the FIR does not fall under a prohibitory clause and since Polani has been in custody for over a year, he is entitled to bail.
His lawyer maintained that Polani never was a director or partner, employee or has any affiliation with Khanani and Kalia nor had any private dealings with Al-Sahara. He never opened a Benami account either, the counsel argued and further submitted that the FIA has no material to show that the applicant recieved any remittances. He submitted that sections 409, 467 are not applicable as he is neither a public servant, banker, merchant or agent. The counsel pointed out flaws in the order by the trial court that rejected the application for bail.
After hearing the counsel from respective sides, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Shahid Anwar Bajwa granted Polani bail.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2011.
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