LHC rejects post-arrest bail to Ayyan Ali

RAWALPINDI: Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa of Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench Tuesday dismissed a post-arrest bail application of Karachi-based supermodel Ayyan Ali in a money laundering case.
Public prosecutor Farhat Nawaz Lodhi adopted before the court that Ayyan was facing charges of money laundering and could face 14-year imprisonment under the laws.
The investigation team could not recover data from her mobile phones, as these were password protected. Lodhi further told the court that Ayyan in the last few months traveled abroad more than 40 times.
Legal counsel for Ayyan, Sardar Mohammad Ishaq advocate argued that it was the investigators’ job to decode the cellphones of his client. “My client is from showbiz and therefore her traveling abroad is a routine matter.”
Ishaq argued that the courts had granted bail to women in heinous crimes like murder and smuggling of narcotics while the alleged offence of his client does not fall in the category of heinous crimes. He argued that the intentions of his client were not wrong and if she had committed anything unlawful, she was here to defend.
Ayyan Ali is facing a money laundering case after she was arrested by the customs officials on March 14 from Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad and half a million dollars was recovered from her possession.
A special court customs on March 16 rejected her bail plea and sent her on 14-day judicial remand. She then filed an appeal with the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench.In her bail application, Ayyan contended that the FIR registered against her was not based on truth but twisted facts.