IHC orders Kazmi’s bank accounts unfrozen

Judge says FIA investigators wasted time, money and resources

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed authorities to unfreeze the bank accounts and properties of former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi.
In a distressing note the IHC Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani said in a nutshell, the investigation officers “have just wasted time, money and resources of the government of Pakistan” moreover, they have not collected any substantial evidence to connect the appellant with the commission of the offence.
Last year Kazmi was acquitted from the Hajj corruption case involving massive irregularities during Hajj operations between 2009 and 2012.

The high court move came on a writ petition filed by Kazmi’s counsel Rai Mudassiq Kharal who stated that the petitioner had moved several applications before Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the government to withdraw orders encumbering his proprietary rights and “removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).”

It added “the mala-fide on the part of the respondents is also apparent” from the fact that the name of the co-accused was removed from the ECL but the petitioner’s requests were dismissed despite acquittal by the high court.

The petitioner further said the actions carried grave miscarriage of justice and infringement of the fundamental rights of the petitioner guaranteed under the Constitution.



Kazim appealed to the court to unfreeze his accounts, properties and remove his name from the ECL.

In its reply to the petitioner, the FIA informed the court that Kazmi’s name was already deleted from the ECL while his account in a private bank had been unfrozen.

IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani while acquitting Kazmi and others lamented that FIA just wasted time, money and resources in the case.

Justice Kayani had exonerated Kazmi, ex-Hajj director general Rao Shakeel and the former joint secretary of the ministry Aftabul Islam Raja from corruption charges.

Justice Kayani had set aside the trial court’s verdict and acquitted Kazmi, Shakeel and Raja observing that “entire documentary evidence is inadmissible and cannot be relied upon for the purpose of conviction” in the case.

On June 3, Judge Malik Nazir Ahmad of the Special Court Central in Islamabad had sentenced Kazmi, Shakeel and Raja to six years in prison each on two counts. The court had also imposed a fine of approximately Rs147.4 million on each of them while declaring their alleged crime as one of the worst examples of corruption.

Background

The infamous Hajj scandal surfaced in 2010 after the then Science and Technology Minister Azam Khan Swati accused Kazmi of corruption in Hajj affairs.

According to the charge-sheet, Kazmi, his two ministry lieutenants, former Hajj DG Rao Shakeel and former joint secretary of the religious affairs ministry Raja Aftabul Islam were indicted for fraud, cheating, misuse of authority and causing losses to the exchequer and the public at large.

The men were also accused of renting a substandard building for an exorbitant price to house the pilgrims in Makkah and for receiving kickbacks as well.

On March 3, 2016, a special court had sentenced Kazmi to 16 years in prison. Shakeel and Islam were also jailed for massive irregularities during Hajj operations between 2009 and 2012.