PHC declares NAB custody of ex-PDA chief illegal

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday declared the NAB physical custody of former director general of the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) Qazi Laiq as illegal and ordered his shifting to Central Prison Peshawar on judicial remand.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Abdul Latif Khan allowed the writ petition of the NAB accused against his physical remand.
The court also directed the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to submit comments in the bail petition of the former director general of the PDA.
The petitioner’s lawyer submitted before the bench that the NAB had unlawfully got physical remand of his client. He pointed out that under the Supreme Court’s decision, NAB cannot get physical remand of the accused when it files reference against him in the accountability court and also frames charges in the court.
He submitted that the NAB got physical custody the former PDA chief even after submission of reference and framed charges against him the accountability.
The NAB had arrested Qazi Laiq in a case of illegal plot allotment after the PHC dismissed his pre-arrest bail petition on February 27.
On February 28, Qazi Laiq was presented before the Accountability Court that handed him over to the NAB on 12-day remand.
The NAB prosecutor, Azim Dad Khan submitted that earlier, the accused had got his interim pre-arrest bail on November 13, 2014. He had also got extension in the bail before arrest on various dates due to adjournments in the case.
He said that now the NAB got his custody for investigation in his case as during pre-arrest bail he did cooperate with the NAB.
Qazi Laiq, had earlier got pre-arrest bail in the illegal allotment of the five-kanal plot adjacent to the Iqra University in Hayatabad Town. The NAB claimed that the allotment was made in violation of the codal formalities on very nominal price for 33 years.