Ex-IGP again moves PHC for bail

PESHAWAR: A former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Malik Naveed Khan has again moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for a bail.
The court had dismissed his petition earlier. But this time he applied for the bail on medical grounds and year-long delay in commencement of the trial in the case filed against him. The former IGP took the plea that he was a heart patient. He claimed he had been under treatment at the hospital for a long time and thus should be released on bail.
He was arrested in the multi-billion scam related to procurement of weapons and vehicles for the provincial police force. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan adjourned the case on Thursday due to lawyers protest at courts.
The NAB had also submitted comments in the case. The bureau had opposed the release of the former IGP on bail. It had stated that first there was no medical report by medical board and second the case was delayed due to an issue of summoning of six police officers in the scam.
The NAB writ petition was still pending in the high court for summoning six police officers as charged in the reference. The NAB KP had arrested Malik Naveed Khan over the charge of receiving kickbacks in the multi-billion rupees procurement of weapons and vehicles for the Police Department in 2013.
At request of police, the provincial government had approved the purchase of weapons and equipment for them to counter terrorism. Over Rs7 billion was released by the government for the procurement.
The NAB claimed the purchase committee committed gross violations of procurement rules by awarding tenders to favourite contractors. The former PPO, who retired from service on August 30, 2010, had earlier moved the Peshawar High Court in June 2013. He had requested the court to quash the proceedings against him initiated by the NAB.
The high court, however, turned down the request. Later, he applied for the bail in PHC and Supreme Court. Both the courts turned down his petitions.A contractor, Arshad Majeed, in his statement, had alleged he had paid Rs360 million to Malik Naveed who was the KP police chief then.