Illicit practice: PHC expresses concern over illegal gateway exchanges

Says national exchequer sustains losses worth millions of rupees.

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan on Monday said illegal gateway exchanges have resulted in losses worth millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

Justice Khan made the observation while hearing a case of illegal gateway exchange in University Town which was raided by a team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Counsel for the accused, Babar Jamal and Nawabzada Mohsin Khan, told the court an FIA team raided a house on February 18, 2011 and seized the illegal gateway exchange.



The counsel added the FIA had not filed any written complaint, arguing the case is not being pursued according to the law which necessitates the submission of a written complaint.

He also informed PHC a lower court had accepted the bail application of the accused in this regard, urging the FIR against them be quashed and the trial in the lower court be declared null and void.

Justice Khan, however, turned down the plea to quash the case and added many people were illegally earning huge sums of money through gateway exchanges. He also ordered the chief prosecutor of FIA to file a fresh written complaint, following which the current FIR would be cancelled.

Gateway exchange is a telephone switch that serves as a bridge between a national telephone network and one or more international gateway exchanges, providing cross-border connectivity.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2013.