Court rejects bail plea of super model

Rawalpindi
District and Sessions Judge-Special Court (Customs, Taxation & Anti-Smuggling) Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Mumtaz Hussain on Monday rejected the bail application of the super model, Ayyan Ali, in money laundering-cum-smuggling case.
During hearing in the case, the lawyers of the accused, Malik Waheed Anjum and Ansar Nawaz Mirza, gave arguments that Ayyan Ali was innocent and a false case has been registered against her. According to them, she has committed no offence as she has declared the money. They said the entire proceedings carried out by the custom authorities were illegal. The sections of the law levelled in the FIR were not relevant to the case and the case does not fall in the prohibitory clause. The petitioner is a female and entitled for the discretionary relief of bail.
Special Public Prosecutor (Customs) Muhammad Amin Feroz opposed the arguments. He argued that the petitioner was nominated in the FIR. An amount of US $506,800, concealed in the suitcase for smuggling abroad, was recovered from her and she failed to produce any legal export documents on the occasion.
He said that she is involved in a ‘white collar’ crime which is not only an offence which falls within prohibitory clause but commission of the same is an offence against the state. He further submitted that her case is of financial corruption and is not entitled for grant of discretionary relief of bail at this early stage.
Keeping in view arguments from both sides, the court dismissed the bail application of Ayyan Ali.
After rejecting the bail application, Raja Muhammad Hafiz, father of Ayyan Ali, during media talk said that his daughter is innocent. “Registration of a money laundering-cum-smuggling case against my daughter is a deep conspiracy,” he said.
The Customs foiled an illegal bid of top model, Ayyan Ali, to smuggle money to Dubai from Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on Saturday and recovered over 506,800 US dollars from her luggage. The supermodel was later sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand by a judicial magistrate, Rawalpindi.
Ayyan recently moved to Europe where she is working on taking up a new career in music.
The Custom officials, taking action on a tip-off, arrested Ayyan and recovered $506,008, worth over Rs50 million, which she was smuggling to Dubai from Rawal Lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
The authorities had registered a case against Ayyan Ali under Sections 156(1)8, 70, 157 of the Customs Act 1969.
Meanwhile, Adiala Jail sources said that the super model has refused to eat food served in the prison and demanded fresh juice in breakfast. The jail authorities have provided her fresh juice and fast food in lunch.