News
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
SC sends former chiefs of IB and OGDCL to jail* Court orders seizure of Brig Imtiaz, Adnan Khawaja’s property
* Both asked to submit surety bonds for bails within 3 days
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Former Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) managing director Adnan Khawaja and former head of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brig (r) Imtiaz Ahmed were arrested on the orders of the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, was hearing a suo moto notice on the appointment of Khawaja as the OGDCL chairman by the government.
The court ordered the seizure of their property and asked them to submit surety bonds for obtaining bail within three days. Police then shifted them to the Adiala Jail.
Earlier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials informed the court that Khawaja, who was convicted by an accountability court, had yet to serve 10 months and 22 days of his imprisonment.
While, Brig (r) Imtiaz Ahmad, who was convicted by an accountability court in 2001, has yet to serve three years and six months.
Both Imtiaz and Khawaja were acquitted in 2008 under the National Reconciliation Ordinance. After his acquittal, Khawaja was appointed as the National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC) chairman and later the ODGCL MD.
However, when the SC declared NRO null and void in 2009, the acquittals were set aside.
The SC then took a suo motu notice of Khawaja’s appointment, which was later cancelled by the government.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Tariq Parvez observed that after the NRO case verdict, both Khawaja and Brig (r) Imtiaz should have obtained bails on new surety bonds, but they did not do so.
In its short order in the case, the SC stated, “Surprisingly, after declaration of the NRO as ultra vires of the constitution on December 16, 2009, he (Khawaja) continued to perform his functions as the NAVTEC chairman, although he was debarred from holding any public office for a period of 10 years. He continued on this position although it was his legal and moral duty to have relinquished the charge on account of verdict against him.”
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk