PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and other relevant authorities on a petition challenging the confiscation of assets belonging to Gul Fareen Jan, the wife of alleged key accused Qaiser Iqbal in the Kohistan financial scandal.
The petition was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Inamullah Khan.During the proceedings, counsel for the petitioner and NAB prosecutor Arbab Kaleemullah appeared before the court.
The petitioner’s lawyer argued that NAB, acting on the orders of an accountability court, had seized the petitioner’s assets and handed them over to the provincial government after the arrest of her husband, Qaiser Iqbal, in connection with the Kohistan financial scandal.
He contended that the properties in question legally belonged to Gul Fareen Jan and not to her husband. He maintained that NAB could not penalise the petitioner for allegations against her spouse and that the confiscation order was therefore unlawful.
The lawyer pleaded that the accountability court had ordered the seizure of the assets without first hearing the petitioner’s position, thereby denying her an opportunity to present her case.After hearing the preliminary arguments, the bench issued notices to NAB, the KP government and other respondents, directing them to submit their replies.
The court also ordered that the petition be heard alongside other cases of a similar nature at the next hearing and observed that all related matters would be taken up together for consider tion.
