Hajj scam: Hamid Saeed Kazmi released on bail
Special Judge had directed Kazmi to submit two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.
RAWALPINDI:
Former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi was released on bail from Adiala jail on Monday.
Earlier, the trial court - hearing the Hajj corruption case of 2010 - had granted him bail against surety bonds and ordered his immediate release, Express News reported.
Special Judge Muhammad Ahmad Farooqui had directed him to submit two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.
The former minister had been incarcerated in Adiala Jail for one year and five months.
The two other accused in the scam, former additional secretary to ministry of religious affairs Raja Aftabul Islam and former director-general Hajj Rao Shakeel were also present during the hearing.
Shakeel filed an application, requesting the court to unfreeze his salary account.
The court reserved its judgement on his application which will be announced during the next hearing on August 30, 2012.
Kazmi, Shakeel and Islam were accused of indulging in widespread corruption during the course of renting residential buildings for Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and inflicting a loss of a billion rupees to the national exchequer. Most of the buildings rented by the Hajj administrators were five kilometres away from the Haram Sharif, while according to law the accommodation for Hajjis should not be more than two kilometres away.
All three of them, if summoned, will have to appear in the hearings of the case in future.
Former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi was released on bail from Adiala jail on Monday.
Earlier, the trial court - hearing the Hajj corruption case of 2010 - had granted him bail against surety bonds and ordered his immediate release, Express News reported.
Special Judge Muhammad Ahmad Farooqui had directed him to submit two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.
The former minister had been incarcerated in Adiala Jail for one year and five months.
The two other accused in the scam, former additional secretary to ministry of religious affairs Raja Aftabul Islam and former director-general Hajj Rao Shakeel were also present during the hearing.
Shakeel filed an application, requesting the court to unfreeze his salary account.
The court reserved its judgement on his application which will be announced during the next hearing on August 30, 2012.
Kazmi, Shakeel and Islam were accused of indulging in widespread corruption during the course of renting residential buildings for Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and inflicting a loss of a billion rupees to the national exchequer. Most of the buildings rented by the Hajj administrators were five kilometres away from the Haram Sharif, while according to law the accommodation for Hajjis should not be more than two kilometres away.
All three of them, if summoned, will have to appear in the hearings of the case in future.