Income tax refund scam: PHC upholds bail of two suspects, rejects a third

Petitioner’s counsel says extended period in jail during lengthy trial unnecessary .

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday maintained the bail of two suspects charged in a multi-million rupee income tax refund scam. However, the bail of a third suspect in the same case was rejected.

The order was issued by Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Musarrat Hilali as they heard three connected petitions for bail. The suspects were earlier granted bail, but the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed cancellation applications in the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the PHC.



On July 26, NAB Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) filed a corruption reference worth Rs83.35 million in an accountability court against seven suspects for their alleged involvement in an income tax refund scam for earthquake affected people in Abbottabad. The accused allegedly collected cheques from the victims during 2008-09 on the pretext of providing assistance in getting an income tax refund and embezzled the amount.

The seven accused included Abbottabad Regional Tax Office Commissioner Asif Haider Orakzai, Upper Division Clerk Muhammad Sadiq, Lower Division Clerk Ali Afsar as well as Jehangir Hussain, Saifullah, Sardar Muhammad Parvez and Abid Hussain.

During the hearing, the court was informed by Ali Raza, the counsel for Afsar and Jehangir, that NAB officials had wrongly implicated his clients in the case. Raza said the reference of corruption had no documentary proof to show direct involvement of his clients.

“Ali Afsar is not the signatory on the income tax returns that are said to be bogus,” argued the counsel. “There are 54 witnesses in the case and it will take a while to conclude the trial. There is no need to keep my client behind bars [for such a long time],” said Raza.

Munir Hussain, counsel for Muhammad Sadiq, said his client was arrested on March 24 and remained in the custody of NAB till May 3.

However, the NAB prosecutor told the court this was a syndicated crime and there are seven people involved in the case.

He alleged Jehangir received Rs22.81 million which he deposited in his personal account. He added Afsar handed over the vouchers of income tax returns to Muhammad Sadiq.

After hearing the arguments, the court upheld the bail of Ali Afsar and Muhammad Sadiq, while it rejected that of Jehangir, who was subsequently arrested by NAB officials.

On August 6, Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Musarrat Hilali granted bail to the same three suspects.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2014.