Court cancels Haleem’s bail, sends him to jail

Bail cancelled after court told opposition leader was not cooperating in land scam investigations

KARACHI:

An anti-corruption court has cancelled the bail of Haleem Adil Sheikh, the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, and sent him to judicial lockup in a case involving alleged occupation of the state land.

Officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) told the court in Karachi that Haleem was not cooperating in investigations as he was sent 12 notices, but he did not appear to record his statement.

On this, the court cancelled Haleem’s bail. The ACE officials tried to arrest him after the cancellation of his bail, but his counsel stopped them, saying that police could not make arrests inside the courtroom.

“We are taking him to the police station where we will record his statement and then send him to jail,” the investigation officer told Haleem’s lawyer before approaching the court again.

Haleem’s lawyer requested the court to take up the case on priority as his client was surrendering before the court. He requested the court to issue an order for him to be sent to jail. “Since the challan has already been submitted in the case, the court can issue an order for sending the suspect to jail,” he pleaded.

Haleem’s lawyer further pleaded that the court ordered the investigation officer to record his client’s statement inside the courtroom. The court accepted the plea and remarked that Haleem would be indicted at the next hearing.

The investigation officer recorded Haleem’s statement in the courtroom and later police shifted him to the Central Jail in an armoured vehicle.

A large number of PTI workers, who were present on the court premises, unsuccessfully tried to stop the armoured vehicle. A heavy contingent of police was deployed outside the court to maintain law and order.

According to the court’s written order, the counsel for the accused has stated that his client had contacted the IO from time to time to get his statement recorded but the IO did not cooperate.

The order further stated that the court had granted bail to Haleem on June 22 and ordered him to join the investigation.

But on July 18, the IO said that the accused did not join the investigation. Haleem sought time and the court gave him until August 4 to join the investigations. But the IO told the court that the accused did not join the investigation.

The public prosecutor adopted the stance that Haleem did not follow the court orders; therefore his plea should be rejected. The written order stated that the accused had time to join the investigation but he did not; therefore, his interim bail is rejected.

The opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly was out on bail which was extended by an anti-corruption court in Hyderabad until August 19. He has said that he was being implicated in a case involving the purchase of a piece of land in 1987. He said many other leaders and workers of PTI are also being booked in fake cases.

The ACE had earlier arrested Haleem on July 26 while he was returning from a court in Jamshoro.

He was arrested by ACE in a case pertaining to a land scam allegedly carried out over three decades ago in Malir, Karachi.

A team of ACE Karachi nabbed Sheikh on July 28 from the ACE office in Jamshoro district where he had appeared to record his statement in another FIR of acquiring land allegedly in a fraudulent way in Jamshoro.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2022.