‘Not entitled’: Court sets aside Ayyan’s request for VIP facilities

Officials say people booked under customs act are not entitled to B-class facilities

RAWALPINDI:

A customs court on Saturday disposed of Ayyan Ali’s application for B-class facilities in jail, declaring that the model, on remand in a money laundering case, is not entitled to VIP facilities.

A burqa-clad Ayyan arrived at the court in a private vehicle while in the custody of customs and Adiala Jail officials.

The model, who was arrested on March 14with $500,000 cash which she was allegedly smuggling abroad, appeared before customs judge Mumtaz Hussain. “Is everything alright in jail,” the judge asked at the beginning, to which Ayyan replied in the affirmative.

The judge asked Ayyan about applications submitted to the court by different persons including her father Raja Hafeez for meetings with her. She, however, clearly refused to meet anyone except her brother and her lawyers.

The judge also asked the custom investigation team, led by Zargham Khan, about the application for B-class facilities. They told the court that a person booked under customs act is not entitled to B-class facilities. Ayyan’s lawyers did not argue on the application.

The court directed the customs official to submit a complete charge sheet on April 11.

Talking to the media, Zargham Khan said the case against Ayyan was concrete. “She was going abroad with the cash. An attempt to smuggle is equal to smuggling [in terms of criminal penalties],” he said, adding that they had summoned Mumtaz and Najeeb Haroon, the property dealers who had reportedly paid the cash to Ayyan.

Khan said documents provided by Ayyan’s legal team were being verified and would be presented in court in the next hearing. “The punishment for smuggling is 5 to 14 years imprisonment if convicted,” he said, adding that the model had visited the UAE, Malaysia and other countries at least 14 times.

Another customs official said that dealing in large sums of foreign currency is not allowed without prior permission from the State Bank of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2015.