LHC suspends Sohail Zia Butt’s sentence

LHC orders release of PML-N leader Sohail Zia Butt on bail against surety bonds of Rs3 million.

A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Monday suspended a three-year sentence (awarded ex parte) of former PML-N MPA, Sohail Zia Butt. The bench also granted him bail in two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references.

Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who was heading the bench, set the bail on furnishing of two Rs200,000 bonds. Chaudhry directed Butt to deposit Rs2 million in cash with the trial court – the amount he was accused of misappropriating.

Butt allegedly received the amount from the National Industrial Finance Corporation (NIFC) in 2001 under a deal to get Ahmad Mansion, The Mall, evacuated from the illegal occupants.

Butt was declared absconder and sentenced by the NAB court to three years in prison for his ‘failure to appear before the court despite repeated notices’. The reference was framed by the NAB on the complaint of an NIFC executive officer.

An accountability court on September 3, 2010, invoked the 2001 sentence against Butt after he was taken into custody by the NAB from near Kalma Chowk on September 1, against the warrants issued on Jan 12, 2001. Advocate Ehtasham Qadir, counsel for Sohail Zia Butt, argued that the NAB had fabricated false references against his client.

He submitted that the references were made to victimise his client on orders from the then ruler, Pervaiz Musharraf. He asked why the NAB was reluctant to produce record of the second reference before the court.

He requested the court to go through the record of the case to appreciate the obvious baselessness of the reference.

The counsel said that Butt was away from the country since May 13, 2000, so there was no question of his not appearing before the court despite notices. He said that the NAB reports against Butt in this regard were false.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2010.