Court battle: Shahabuddin challenges attachment of his land

Says relevant rules were not followed in attaching inherited property.

RAWALPINDI:

Textile Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin has moved the court against the attachment of his inherited land by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) for his alleged role in the case of allocating huge quotas of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical firms.

Justice Sagheer Ahmed Qadri and Justice Ali Baqir Najafi of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench will take up his petition, filed through Advocate Abdul Rashid Sheikh, on Thursday.

Citing the director of ANF Rawalpindi region, ANF asset management assistant director and the Punjab government as respondents, Shahabuddin maintained that through a letter on June 22 this year, the investigators directed revenue officials of the Rahim Yar Khan district to attach his land in the district without following the relevant rules.

The minister pleaded that, while under narcotics laws, the ANF could get the attachment orders of a property from a trial court within seven days of registering a case, no permission of the court has been sought so far.

Shahabuddin, presently on bail from the Supreme Court in the ephedrine case, further contended that he had obtained a report from the revenue office of Rahim Yar Khan stating that all the land he owned was inherited from his forefathers and he had not purchased any of it during his lifetime.  The division bench of the LHC will also take up another pending petition by the federal minister on Thursday regarding the seizure of his bank accounts in 22 different banks.

ANF prosecutor resigns

ANF special public prosecutor Barrister Wasim Ahmed, who was fighting the ephedrine case in the trial court and the high court, resigned from his assignment on Wednesday.

Ahmed informed the media that he had resigned as ANF prosecutor due to some personal reasons. It may, however, be mentioned here that he had not been paid salary for the last four months.

Moreover, unconfirmed reports suggested that there were some differences between Ahmed and the investigators of the ephedrine case.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2012.