Criminal justice: Stock scam accused denied bail

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Thursday dismissed a bail application of a man involved in a Rs80 million stock brokerage scam. The division bench, consisting of Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa and Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf, heard the application. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that Usman Saeed had held only a few shares of the Ali Usman Stock Brokerage whereas Qasim Zia, Ali Usman, Khalida Anwar and Raza Zahid had a majority of shares. He said Saeed had worked as a director in the firm for only five months and 15 days. He said he was retired in October 2006. He said his client had nothing to do with the scam. He said the National Accountability Bureau did not have any evidence against Saeed. Syed Farhad Tirimzi, NAB’s senior special prosecutor, opposed the application. He submitted that the accused was the secretary at the Ali Usman Brokerage and that the cheques issued by the company carried his signature. The bench dismissed the bail application.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2015.