Double Shah Sentenced: ‘I took money but didn’t cheat people’

An accountability court sentenced Double Shah to 14 years in prison after he pleaded guilty.

LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday sentenced Syed Sibtul Hassan Shah Gillani aka Double Shah to 14 years in prison after he pleaded guilty. He was accused of cheating people out of Rs441 million. The judge also  fined him Rs3 billion. An emotional Double Shah admitted to taking people’s money but remained adamant that he had not “cheated” them. “There are supposed to be around 4,400 witnesses against me but none was produced before the court,” said an emotional Gillani. He told the court that he had helped the public by doubling their money. “I returned more than Rs2 billion to the National Accountability Bureau,” he said, who said wanted to prolong the matter. The judge fixed January 14 as the next date for hearing the case against four other accused: Munawar Hussain Gillani, Syed Farhat Hassan, Chan Pir and Shaukat Ali. Double Shah, while in court, pleaded that the four men had not been involved in any wrongdoing. He asked the judge to acquit  them.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2012.