PHC lifts stay order on trial of FIA official

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday lifted the stay order on the trial of a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official and directed the trial court to proceed with the case.

Assistant Director Shahid Ilyas was accused of allegedly embezzling millions of rupees almost seven years ago. In the previous hearing, the PHC had asked the federal government to clarify whether the judge of the Special Anti-Corruption Court (Central) had the authority to hear an appeal against a magistrate’s decision. A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Waqar Ahmed heard the petitions filed by Shahid Ilyas.

Additional Attorney General Sanaullah and Assistant Attorney General Daulat Khan appeared on behalf of the federal government. According to the petition, in 2017, the petitioner allegedly recovered money in a case but failed to deposit it.

A case was registered against him stating that approximately 45,000 Saudi riyals and 1.1 million rupees from the recovered amount had gone missing. The magistrate had earlier rejected a request to record statements of other members of the raiding party under Section 164, but the Special Anti-Corruption Court (Central) later ordered the recording of witness statements.

Shahid Ilyas approached the PHC and argued that the procedure adopted for his trial was flawed.The federal government, on the other hand, contended that this case caused a loss of millions of dollars to the government. It stated that FIA officials had conducted a raid and recovered the money, but despite multiple reminders, Shahid Ilyas failed to deposit the recovered amount.

The PHC issued a stay order in 2019, preventing proceedings against him. During the hearing, Additional Attorney General Sanaullah argued that a stay order could not be issued against a criminal trial and that it had been in place for six years. He emphasized that presenting prosecution witnesses during the trial was a legal requirement and that no law prevents the prosecution from recording witness statements. The additional attorney general stated that the charge sheet against the accused had been submitted to the court, but the stay order had halted the trial.