Plea bargain: BoP defaulter told to approach lower court

SC advised counsel for Sheikh Harris to approach the court concerned for bail.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) has advised the counsel for Sheikh Harris, one of the principal defaulters of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) scam, to approach the court concerned for bail which has been denied since his plea bargain cannot be approved in the absence of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman.

During the course of hearing, counsel Waseem Sajjad said that Sheikh Harris had agreed to return the principal amount of Rs400 million in addition to which NAB has demanded Rs50 million. He informed a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, comprising Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim that a salvage committee was evaluating Harris’s property. Sheikh Harris had lent Seth Nisar the Rs400 million he had borrowed from BoP and his elder brother was behind bars for taking the money. He contended that his client has been refused bail because the plea bargain is subject to approval from chairman NAB, who is yet to be appointed. The chief justice directed the counsel to approach the relevant court of law for remedy since the plea bargain cannot be concluded in the absence of chairman NAB.

Deputy Prosecutor General NAB, Raja Amir Abbas informed the court that the investigation report submitted by additional Inspector General Aftab Sultan has been presented to the trial court as evidence in compliance with the SC directive. Abbas informed the bench that the convict’s bail application was fixed for hearing in the Lahore High Court on July 28. Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, counsel for four former members of the board of directors who allegedly took loans of more than Rs20 billion, contended that he had not received the investigation report and requested for adjournment. The court directed counsel for BoP to submit the salvage committee’s report in the next 10 days and adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th,  2011.