Hamesh’s custody extended

LAHORE: An acccountability court has handed over Hamesh Khan, one of the principal accused in the nine-billion-rupee Bank of Punjab scam, to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a 14-day physical remand.

NAB officials presented Hamesh before the court in handcuffs and amid tight security. He was kept beyond the access of the media. Court officials confirmed that NAB authorities had demanded, and the court had conceded, a 14-day remand for Khan.

NAB officials then escorted Khan back to Chamba House in an Armoured Personnel Carrier escorted by the police and the Elite Force. Khan has been in NAB custody since he was deported from the US on May 14.

In November 2009, NAB had arrested Haris Steel Mills owner Sheikh Afzal and his son Haris Afzal from Kuala Lumpur and brought them to Pakistan. Afzal is accused of drawing loans from the Bank of Punjab by providing fake identity cards while Khan, as the former president of the bank, is accused of having facilitated the scam.

On September 27, 2007, NAB had filed a reference in an accountability court against 12 people, including six officials of the bank and six other accused. However, in July 2008, Khan fled the country, despite his name being featured on the Exit Control List. The court provided him several opportunities to appear before it and assured him of security but he did not turn up.

He was arrested by the Interpol in December 2009 in the US at Pakistan’s request.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2010.