Serving jail term doesn’t make property legal: CJP

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa on Tuesday said anybody convicted for corruption will have to pay their fine even if they are dead. He made these remarks during the hearing of a case pertaining to a sentence awarded to a former government employee, who had been found guilty of owning assets beyond known means.

Justice Khosa said an earlier Supreme Court verdict stated that anyone guilty of corruption will have to pay fine even if they serve additional time in prison.

“The extra time served in prison is punishment for not paying the fine,” Justice Khosa explained. The money [looted through corruption] must be returned even if the person [who is guilty of corruption] is dead,” the chief justice said.

Mohammad Kaleem Bhatti, a cashier in Quetta district commissioner’s office, had made properties worth more than Rs1.9 million beyond his known means of income. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined Rs15m by a trial court.

The verdict was upheld by the Balochistan High Court (BHC). Bhatti chose to serve two years in prison instead of paying the fine. The high court in a later verdict stated that since he had served additional time in prison he did not have to pay the fine and returned his properties that were earlier confiscated.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) challenged the verdict in the top court. During Tuesday’s hearing, the chief justice said the BHC had misunderstood the SC judgment. Bhatti argued that he had already served seven years in prison. After serving seven years in jail, have your properties [bought by money earned through corruption] become legal, asked Justice Khosa asked. “The fine will have to be paid even if the prison sentence has been served,” the chief justice concluded.