In the dock: PHC sends former CM’s brother into NAB’s hands

Rejects extension of Ghazan Hoti’s bail in seedy weapons deal.

PESHAWAR:

Former chief minister (CM) Amir Haider Hoti’s brother Ghazan Hoti was arrested on Tuesday from the high court’s premises by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over a multi-billion rupee arms procurement case.

The arrest was made possible after a Peshawar High Court (PHC) division bench of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain declined Ghazan’s bail extension request. On April 1, the PHC had granted pre-arrest bail to the accused.

The PHC bench also rejected post-arrest bail applications of former IGP Malik Naveed and Raza Ali Khan, a distant relative of the former CM.

Ghazan’s counsel Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah told the court the charges against his client are based on allegations leveled by contractor Arshad Majeeed who gave Rs200 million in bribes to Ghazan and later became an approver.

Ihsanullah added his client was neither a political figure at the time of the procurement of weapons, nor did he hold a post in the provincial government. He claimed his client has been in Dubai for the last eight years tending to his business.

“When a reference of corruption has been filed against the accused there is no need for an arrest or physical custody. According to section 9-D of the NAB Ordinance 1999, after amendments, the high court can grant bail in the case,” argued Ihsanullah.

NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Jamil Saraf told the bench that apart from Majeed, two other people have also recorded statements and named Ghazan as a beneficiary in the procurement case.

He said the bureau had no mala fide intentions and the accused was in knowledge of all the allegations against him since June last year, but he did not come forward to help with the enquiry.

Afterwards, the court, which reserved its verdict on April 10, rejected the pre-arrest bail of Ghazan and post-arrest bail of Raza and the former IGP, who are both in jail already. NAB officials then arrested Ghazan from outside the courtroom.

Naveed was arrested on November 20 last year and sent to prison on January 15 after spending 56 days in the custody of NAB. Raza was arrested on January 6 and spent 24 days in physical custody after which he was sent to Peshawar Central Jail.

Initial enquiries had revealed that procurement rules had been grossly violated by the purchasing committee in awarding tenders to ‘favoured’ contractors with no previous experience of supplying such material and for which payments were made in advance. Huge commissions and kickbacks were alleged to have changed hands in awarding these contracts.

NAB Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had filed a Rs2.03 billion reference of corruption against Naveed and nine others on March 18.

The reference revealed that Rs2.03 billion was misappropriated in the Rs7 billion deal for procurement of weapons and other equipment for the K-P police department in 2008-10 to battle militancy more effectively. The CM at the time was Awami National Party’s Amir Haider Khan Hoti.

Those named in the reference for their alleged corruption include Frontier Constabulary Commandant Abdul Majeed Khan, former additional IGP Operations Abdul Latif Khan, Central Police Office DIG Sajid Ali Khan, former DIG Headquarters Muhammad Suleman Khan, ex budget officer of the police department Javed Khan, Ex AIG Establishment CPO Kashif Alam, former DIG Telecommunication Sadiq Kamal Orakzai, Raza Ali Khan, Ghazan Hoti and former IGP Malik Naveed.

Hearing of the case is under way in an accountability court where proceedings had been halted till April 24 so as to have a PHC decision on the accused persons’ bail applications.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.