Fake degree case: Gujar Khan MPA granted five-day bail

EC had approached Rawalpindi district and sessions judge to penalise MPA for submitting fake documents.

RAWALPINDI:

A local court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest interim bail to PML-N MPA Raja Shaukat Aziz Bhatti till November 12 in a fake degree case.

District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) Maroof Ali directed the MPA to submit a surety bond worth Rs100,000 when he appeared in court to respond to a criminal complaint filed against him by Rawalpindi Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) Zahoor Ahmed Pasha. The DEC had accused the MPA of submitting a fake BA degree with his nomination papers in 2008.

The DSJ observed that Bhatti’s arrest warrants had been issued on November 1 for not appearing in court, after which the MPA from Gujar Khan had to file a bail plea. In his plea, the MPA argued that he was innocent and Gujar Khan police had absolved him of the charges.

Disputing the results of the investigation by Gujar Khan police, the DEC approached Rawalpindi DSJ to penalise the MPA for committing forgery and submitting fake documents.

DEC Pasha had filed a complaint against the MPA for submitting a fake degree of the Punjab University with his nomination papers and later trying to switch it with a diploma issued by Victoria College, London.

The police in Gujar Khan registered a criminal case against the MPA on a complaint filed by the Election Commission for submitting a fake degree following the 2010 verdict of Supreme Court on verification of parliamentarians’ degrees.

However, the police absolved the MPA, stating that Bhatti did not submit a bachelor degree but a diploma in Business Administration from London.

In the complaint filed through advocate Raja Shujaur Rehman, the DEC maintained that “according to the Higher Education Commission no degree was issued to Raja Shaukat Aziz Bhatti by the university”. The admission form had been filled in by Sheikh Shaukat Aziz.

After a criminal case was registered, the DEC stated in his complaint, the MPA switched the degree with the diploma in the judicial record office in Gujar Khan with the help of the concerned staff.

This was later established through an inquiry conducted by Additional District and Sessions Judge Mahrukh Aziz Tara, the complaint stated. Bhatti was elected in 2008 on PML-Q’s ticket, but he later joined PML-N.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2012.