Money-laundering case: LHC grants post-arrest bail to Kh Asif

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to former defence minister Kh Asif in a case of money- laundering and assets beyond means initiated by the NAB.

The NAB had arrested Kh Asif from Islamabad on December 29, 2020 and later shifted him to Lahore where he remained on physical remand till January 22, 2021.

During the hearing, NAB’s Special Prosecutor Faisal Raza Bokhari said the first complaint against Kh Asif was received at the Rawalpindi office of the bureau on March 1, 2018. The complainant was PTI leader Usman Dar, who had lost 2018 general election against Kh Asif. He said the NAB converted the inquiry into an investigation after the arrest of Asif in December 2020.

Bokhari said the petitioner was first elected senator in 1991 when his assets, as per nomination papers, were around Rs5 million. He said the assets of the petitioner swelled to Rs221 million by 2018, which were beyond known sources of his income.

He said there had been a difference of Rs159 million in income and expenditures of the petitioner. He pointed out that Asif declared an income of Rs144 million from Iqama (work permit) and personal business in UAE. To a bench’s query, the prosecutor said Asif transferred money from Abu Dhabi to Pakistan through his personal bank accounts.

Justice Aalia Neelum, who headed the bench, observed that the NAB submitted its two replies to the petition and both had different stances. The judge noted that the NAB in its first reply said the petitioner had an overdraft of Rs230 million and changed the amount to Rs150 million in the subsequent reply. Prosecutor Bokhari said the petitioner should be thankful to the NAB for reducing the ‘disputed’ amount. Justice Neelum questioned the change in the NAB’s stance on its own. However, the prosecutor claimed there was no change in the stance.

The judge further noted that the NAB in its reply said the investigation was still in progress while the investigating officer claimed that the reference against the petitioner had been sent to the authority for the final approval. The judge observed that the NAB officers wanted a suspect to produce evidence on his own. The judge also regretted that the details of the petitioner’s income required to the NAB were already available with his Iqama.

The prosecutor said the relevant company of Abu Dhabi did not verify the Iqama and the amount of the income declared by the petitioner. Asif’s counsel Haider Rasul Mirza contradicted the prosecutor’s claim and argued that the UAE government never issued an Iqama if a company did not exist. He said the company was ready to respond to the court if required. The bench allowed the bail petition of Kh Asif subject to furnishing of bail bonds of Rs10 million.