PHC CJ says NAB forcing people into voluntary return of money

PESHAWAR: Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth has said that civil courts were the right forum where the petitioners could challenge the matters related to the recovery of money as the high court had some limitations in such cases.

In his remarks, while hearing a writ petition filed by Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mazharul Haq Kakakhel against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday, the PHC chief justice stated that they were well aware how the NAB officials were forcing the people to sign documents for voluntary return of the money.

“Even a director was compelled to sign documents for the voluntary return,” he said. He said the apex court had limited powers to decide such cases while the right forum for such issues was civil courts.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Naeem Anwar dismissed the writ petition by the DIG Police. The petitioner was directed to move the civil court for the settlement of the issue.

Barrister Mudasir Amir, while representing the DIG Police, told the court that his client had no direct links with weapons purchase scandal for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police that happened a few years back. “He had no concern with the purchase of weapons but his name was included in the case as he was DIG at that time,” he argued. The lawyer added that later the NAB put pressure on him to return an amount of Rs6.5 million even though his client had denied the charges against him in the weapon purchase scandal.

He said the federal government later probed the matter and DIG Mazharul Haq Kakakhel was found innocent. “My client got promotion as he was found innocent in the case. Therefore, the amount should be returned to him,” he pleaded before the court. Senior prosecutors of the NAB Azeem Dad and Mohammad Riaz, on the other hand, informed the court that the petitioner had voluntarily returned the amount and signed an affidavit with the NAB. Therefore, they argued he couldn’t reclaim the same amount.