ARY Gold reference: Principal secretary to President seeks acquittal

Says the prosecution could not prove his involvement in multi-billion scam.

RAWALPINDI:

Principal Secretary to President Zardari, Salman Farooqi on Monday said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has failed to prove his alleged involvement in the ARY Gold reference.

In a statement submitted through his lawyer Arshad Tabraiz, Farooqi said the prosecution in the case could not produce any evidence to prove Babar’s alleged role in the corruption reference.

Accountability Court-II Judge Mian Altaf Hussain Mahr put off the hearing in the case till June 24, after receiving the statement of Farooqi, who was secretary commerce in 1996 when the reference was filed.

Farooqi was included in the list of the accused through a supplementary challan and it was alleged that he, as federal secretary, illegally cancelled the licences of two companies for import of gold and silver, to make way for ARY Gold.

In his statement, the principal secretary maintained that no prosecution witnesses appearing in the court had raised fingers at him and said he should be acquitted under section 265-K of CrPC.

In the ARY Gold reference, besides Farooqi former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Zardari were also among the accused. The charge against Benazir was dropped after her assassination and President Zardari currently enjoys immunity.

Other accused, ARY company owners Haji Abdur Razzaq Yaqoob, Abdur Rauf and Jan Muhammad, have also applied for acquittal.

According to the prosecution the then government permitted the import of gold and silver after giving exemption of duties between 1995 and 1997. This inflicted a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2011.