JJVL owner, other accused prima facie did not cause loss to treasury: SHC

The SHC’s division bench, comprising Justice Karim Khan Agha and Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio, observed that the applicants had been granted bail earlier as well, which they had not misused, and had kept appearing before the relevant court.

The bench remarked that the evidence against the accused persons is still the same as it was at the time of their previous bail because the court asked the NAB prosecutor if any new evidence had surfaced against the applicants, to which he replied in the negative.

NAB had filed the reference against the accused in 2020, alleging that JJVL had shown an income of Rs72 billion from 2011 to 2019, aiming to incorporate black money into the JJVL’s corporate bank account. According to NAB, the JJVL’s sole business relies on supplying LPG and LNG, provided to them by the SSGC. Contrary to SSGC documents, the gas utility provided LPG worth Rs22.8 billion to JJVL, whereas JJVL claimed to have earned Rs43 billion from the mentioned gas, which is 200 percent more than the actual sales amount.

NAB further stated in its reference that JJVL had submitted details to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) about its sales tax collected from its sales, claiming its revenue to be Rs25 billion. In addition to this, it provided 350,000 metric tonnes of LPG out of more than 600,000 metric tonnes were provided to its five companies, valued at approximately Rs21.79 billion.

According to the NAB reference, Iqbal Z Ahmed, his sons Fasihuddin Ahmed and Raziuddin Ahmed along with other accused persons were found involved in corruption and money laundering worth Rs28 billion.