A special court for offences in banks on Thursday confirmed the interim bail of two accused, involved in a case of prohibited foreign funding against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore.
The court confirmed interim bail of Tariq Shafi, and bank officer Asad Kakakhel and ordered them to furnish surety bonds of one million rupees each. However, the court dismissed as withdrawn a bail application of accused Mubashir Ahmad.
Banking Offence Court Judge Aslam Gondal conducted hearing of the pre-arrest bail applications of all accused and announced the verdict after hearing detailed arguments of the parties.
Tariq Shafi and bank officer Asad Kakakhel appeared before the court during the proceedings and got their attendance marked. However, accused Mubashir Ahmad did not show up.
Advocate Mian Ashfaq and Advocate Mian Sohail represented Tariq and Asad before the court and argued that allegations of prohibited funding against their clients were baseless. They pleaded with the court to confirm the interim of their clients as co-accused, Hamid Zamand, had already been granted bail in the matter.
However, a prosecutor on behalf the FIA submitted arguments and opposed confirmation of the interim bail.
At this stage, a counsel for accused Mubashir Ahmad sought permission to withdraw the bail application of his client as he repeatedly failed to appear in the court.
Subsequently, the court confirmed interim bail of Tariq and Asad, and dismissed as withdrawn bail application of Mubashir Ahmad.
The FIA alleged that Tariq Shafi got registered a bogus trust to give an impression that same is part of the PTI in the name of “The Insaf Trust” as chairman with Ashiq Hussain Qureshi as deputy chairman, Hamid Zaman as general secretary, Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhry and Mubashir Ahmad as trustees. It says the funding received in the trust was used for political campaigns of the PTI.
The agency further alleges that the suspects and Arif Naqvi of Abraaj group in collusion with the PTI leadership and others committed a fraud.
