LHC reserves judgment on freezing of accounts

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) reserved its judgment over the petition, challenging freezing of accounts of Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Hanif Abbasi and his family members by the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court of Rawalpindi.

The petitions of Hanif Abbasi and his brother Basit Abbasi were heard by an LHC division bench comprising Justice Ibadur Rahman Lodhi and Justice Shahzad Iqbal Gheba. Abbasi’s counsel told the court the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had no power to order freezing the accounts during the last phase of the case. When asked by Justice Lodhi how the accounts were frozen, Abbasi’s counsel Tanvir Iqbal said the notice was issued by the Joint Director ANF after the blocking of the accounts.

When Justice Shahzad asked the public prosecutor that at what stage is the hearing of the ephedrine case, which is being heard for five years, the ANF prosecutor said an inquiry would be conducted and the proofs collected would be presented before the court within seven days. If there could be a three-year sentence in any case, the assets could be frozen, the ANF prosecutor added.

Abbasi’s counsel plead with the court to defreeze his clients’ accounts because in the wake of the freezing of factory’s account, the salaries to the workers could not be paid. The ANF has frozen even the accounts that had as little as Rs4,000 balance, he added.

The ANF had registered a case against Abbasi and his accomplices in June 2012 under various sections of the CNS Act and a CNS court indicted Abbasi, his brother and other suspects in 2014. The Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court of Rawalpindi had indicted Hanif Abbasi and eight others in ephedrine case in late October 2014.