PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday remanded a petition seeking the return of a vehicle belonging to accused Saifur Rehman, nominated in the Kohistan financial scandal case, back to the Accountability Court with directions to hear the matter and decide it in accordance with the law.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Muhammad Ijaz Khan subsequently disposed of the writ petition.Counsel for the petitioner Aminur Rehman Yousafzai and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) special prosecutor Arbab Kaleemullah appeared before the court.During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner pleaded that his client was the registered owner of the vehicle, which had been seized by NAB after he was implicated in the Kohistan scandal merely on the basis of vehicle ownership.
Justice Asadullah asked about the value of the vehicle, to which the petitioner’s counsel replied that it was an Alto car worth Rs450,000. The judge remarked that compared to a scandal involving billions of rupees, the amount was insignificant, and questioned why the Accountability Court had dismissed the application.
The petitioner’s lawyer contended that the Accountability Court had dismissed the plea on the grounds of limitation. He further submitted that the vehicle had been taken from the petitioner in Rawalpindi and that initially the petitioner was unaware of where the vehicle had been kept. He also argued that NAB had not issued any notice to the petitioner.
On the other hand, NAB special prosecutor Kaleemullah told the court that the Kohistan case involved billions of rupees. He said the petitioner claimed to have purchased the vehicle in 2015, but it had only recently been registered. He pleaded that the vehicle had previously been registered in the name of Ameer Syed, to whom NAB had issued notices.
The petitioner’s counsel responded that Ameer Syed was under arrest at the time, while the vehicle remained in the petitioner’s possession.After hearing arguments, the court sent the matter back to the Accountability Court, directing it to provide the petitioner an opportunity of hearing and decide the case in accordance with the law.
