Liquor licence case

Punjab Excise Dept’s ex-DG granted bail

By our correspondent

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to former director general of Punjab Excise & Taxation Department Akram Ashraf Gondal in the liquor licence case wherein Chief Minister Usman Buzdar is also accused of receiving kickback.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider allowed the bail petition of Gondal and directed him to furnish two bail bonds of Rs500,000 each.

In his arguments, Gondal’s counsel Zaheer Abbas said the whole record of the case lies with the NAB and there was no need to keep the petitioner behind the bars. He said the petitioner had superannuated one year ago after a spotless career in the government service.

The counsel said the licence in question was conditionally issued to a hotel and later cancelled. The NAB had accused Gondal of misuse of authority and illegally granting L-2 category licence to a private hotel beyond the eligibility criteria. It said the suspect benefited the hotel by obtaining No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from different departments through other officials of the excise department. Gondal was arrested on September 17 and remained in the Bureau’s custody till Sept 28 when the trial court sent him to jail on judicial remand.

In this case, the NAB accused Chief Minister Usman Buzdar of taking Rs50 million as bribe to force the excise and taxation department to issue the licence to an under construction hotel in violation of the law.