Authorities must return money if accused acquitted: SC

Top judge orders there is no ground to confiscate the petitioner’s currency

ISLAMABAD: The top court on Friday declared that authorities must return any money confiscated during investigation of any case if the accused is acquitted by a competent court.

The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had been hearing the appeal of a Peshawar resident who had been acquitted of charges of trying to smuggle currency.

Asfandyar Khan was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in 2016 on suspicion of running a hundi hawala operation. The agency, at the time of his arrest, had confiscated 63,000 Saudi riyals, 3,500 UAE dirhams and Rs2.4 million from his possession.



Although a trial court ordered his release when his case was taken up, it still ordered authorities to hold on to the currency confiscated from him. The trial court’s decision was upheld by the Peshawar High Court as well, prompting Asfandyar to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Hearing the case on Friday, the chief justice noted that the conviction and sentence of the petitioner for the relevant offence had been set aside by the high court and that there was no conviction and sentence for the relevant offence by the trial court. As such, there was no ground to pass an additional order for the confiscation of the petitioner’s currency. The bench, subsequently, set aside the trial court order upheld by the high court and ordered the return of the petitioner’s confiscated money.