NPF land scam: Anjum Aqeel granted bail by IHC

Application accepted after PIMS says it lacks facilities for MNA’s treatment.

ISLAMABAD:

Disgraced MNA of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Anjum Aqeel, was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday. The post-arrest bail application was accepted after a medical board of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) submitted a report that they lacked facilities for his cardiac treatment.

The bail was granted against a surety bond of Rs2 million.

At the last hearing, the court had directed the PIMS deputy executive director to constitute a medical board to ascertain the medical conditions of Aqeel who had applied for bail on medical grounds.

Aqeel had filed a bail petition before the IHC bench after a similar request was rejected by a special judge (central) on January 25.

The petitioner had submitted before the court that his bail petition was on medical grounds as well as on merit, adding that the co-accused were also granted bail on medical pleas.

Aqeel was arrested on December 3 last year by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) when his pre-arrest bail was rejected by the court.

He was accused of refusing to hand over land to the National Police Foundation (NPF) under an agreement signed 10 years ago, despite receiving payment for it worth Rs5.75 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.