Anti-Corruption Establishment: SCP summons chairman, asst director

A bench of the SC summons chairman of ACE and over the alleged registration of a false FIR.

KARACHI: A bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan summoned on Monday the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) and an assistant director over the alleged registration of a false FIR.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Jawad S. Khwaja was hearing a petition filed by Al Haram Associates who claim ownership of a priced plot in main downtown Karachi.

The petitioners question the registration of an FIR by the ACE on charges of fraud. They maintained that the case went up to the apex court and as it had decided the issue, under what authority had the ACE lodged the impugned FIR?

According to the case, Sikandar Jatoi had applied for a loan from Prime Bank Limited and according to conditions, an advertisement appeared in the newspapers. Al Haram Associates had in response to the public notice raised an objection, claiming ownership of the disputed property. They maintained that the plot was owned by them and someone had registered it with fake documents. Jatoi registered an FIR which was questioned by Al Haram Associates and the matter was finally decided by the apex court.

However, the ACE registered another FIR which was the subject of the petition before the SCP on Monday. The bench took notice of the ACE’s act and summoned its chairman and an assistant director to appear before the court on Dec 29 to explain why the second FIR was registered.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2010.