The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted bail to a man who along with others who are allegedly involved in selling out a government accommodation on the Plot No. E-13/6-B, Jahangir East, PWD, worth a million of rupees.
The applicant, Talha Samoo, was booked by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) along with others for knowingly, fraudulently and dishonestly inducing the complainant and other witnesses to sell out the government accommodation and then not fulfilling their commitment nor returning the amount.
The investigation officer after the inquiry submitted a final charge sheet to a court of law against the applicant and others stating that they had committed offences punishable under the sections 406, 419, 420, 468, 471, 34 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with the sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.
A counsel for the applicant submitted that he was innocent and had falsely been implicated in this case by police at the behest of the complainant who had now recoiled from the statement and there was no direct evidence connecting the applicant with the offences.
The counsel submitted that there was no evidence on record that the applicant was ever entrusted with the property by the complainant and the fraud charges were not applicable when no property was handed over to the applicant.
He submitted that the sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act were also not relevant to the case as there was no such money laundering transaction in the matter which may attract such provisions.
He pointed out that co-accused Shahid Hussain, Kamal, and Shahana had already been granted post- and pre-arrest bail by the trial court.
A federal law officer opposed the bail application and argued that the applicant was involved in the heinous crime of money laundering as he had been assigned a specific role in the commission of the offence and the material collected against him connected him with the alleged offence, therefore, he was not entitled to the concession of bail.
The law officer submitted that the complainant alleged that the accused received Rs3 million (Rs.1.5 million each) through fraud by pretending to provide a plot in the PWD federal quarters.
He argued that after the finalisation of the inquiry, it was revealed that other accused Shahid, Kamal, and Shahana Naz in active connivance with the main accused Samoo hoodwinked the general public into selling the government property/quarters to them by taking huge amount.
He added that the applicant had fraudulently grabbed an amount from poor people and reportedly invested in the purchase of properties as a result of the proceeds of crime.
The SHC after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that it had become transparent that the matter in hand, ex-facie, seemed to be civil, as it was evident from the contents of the FIR that there was a civil transaction between the parties and both the parties had agreed to the sale and purchase of some property in lieu of certain amount which was purportedly received by the applicant and other persons.
The high court observed that the record further reflected that no date, time or place of criminal intimidation by the applicant was mentioned in the FIR and no relevant details of criminal intimidation were brought on record of the investigation.
The high court observed that it was a well-settled law that no one could be prosecuted based on vague and unspecified allegations and prima facie, the FIA had tried to convert a civil and business dispute into a criminal case; and the trial court has to evaluate the same judiciously, independently. The SHC granted bail to the applicant in the case subject to furnishing a surety of Rs100,000.