NICL case: Moonis told to prove right to statements

Court tells defence to cite precedents concerning witness testimony.


Express June 11, 2011

LAHORE:


A Special Banking Offences Court has directed the lawyers for Moonis Elahi, a PML-Quaid leader accused of involvement in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam case, to cite superior court judgements that set precedents regarding the provision of witness statements to the defence.


Advocates Amjad Pervaiz, Rai Basheer Ahmed and Misbahur Rehman told the court on Friday that they had not been given the statements made by witnesses before magistrates, and without them the challan of the case was incomplete.

They said they had a right to copies of the witnesses’ statements and they did not understand why the court was not heeding their request. The said the case against their client was flimsy and the Federal Investigation Agency was prolonging the case so they could keep Elahi in detention.

Judge Abdul Rasheed responded by saying he did not want to hear the case and could get it transferred to another court if the defence wanted this. Elahi’s lawyers said they had full confidence in the judge’s abilities, but it was up to him to decide whether he wanted to hear the case or not.

The judge then directed them to bring judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts concerning the provision to the defence of witness statements recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The lawyers said that there was no need for such precedents as Section 241 A of the CrPC clearly stated that the defence had a right to witness statements and the challan.

Speaking to reporters after the adjournment of the case till today (Friday), the lawyers said they were frustrated at the slow pace of the case and the fact that they had spent the whole day arguing about whether Elahi had the right to witness statements, when this was clearly his right under Section 241 A.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2011.

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