SHC overrules NAB’s request for Sharmila’s disqualification

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday set aside the National Accountability Bureau’s letter to the Election Commission seeking Pakistan People Party MPA Sharmila Farooqui’s disqualification on the basis of her plea bargain in 2001.

The PPP MPA elected an MPA on a reserved seat for women, has filed a petition challenging the investigative agency’s letter to the Election Commission. The petitioner’s counsel, Haseeb Jamali, had submitted in the petition that the NAB’s letters were illegal. He said the Supreme Court had reduced the disqualification period under the plea bargain from 21 to 10 years; therefore, the conviction of the petitioner under NAB’s ordinance “does not hold any field”. He requested the court to restrain the bureau and other respondents from taking any coercive action against the petitioner.

The SHC’s division comprising Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha observed that the petitioner will not be disqualified from holding public office on basis of her voluntary return, since she was neither convicted nor a public office holder at the time of the offence. The court set aside the NAB's letter regarding petitioner’s disqualification but made it clear that all other parts of the judgment will remain in full force as they do not relate to disqualification.

The NAB letter had stated that Sharmila, her mother Anisa Farooqui and father Usman Farooqui stood disqualified for a period of 21 years as per the judgment of the accountability court declared on April 28, 2001, under Section 15 of the ordinance, and sought legal action against her. According to NAB’s reference, former Pakistan Steel Mill chairman Usman Farooqi, her spouse Anisa and daughter Sharmila were indicted by the Accountability Court for possessing the national saving certificates worth around Rs. 40 million beyond their known sources of income; however, prior to the announcement of the judgment, the defendants entered into a plea bargain and agreed to return the money. The court had allowed the plea bargain but disqualified them for holding any public office for 21 years. The NAB prosecutor submitted that Ehtesab Act was replaced by the NAB Ordinance, which was applicable and has an overriding effect; therefore Section 15 of the ordinance is applicable in view of the petitioner’s plea bargain.