Model Ayyan finally indicted

RAWALPINDI: The Special Customs Court on Thursday indicted supermodel Ayyan Ali in the currency smuggling case.
She was indicted after over eight months of her arrest on March 14 at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) in Islamabad for attempting to smuggle out $508,000.Judge Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan indicted the model, but she pleaded not guilty. The court summoned prosecution witnesses on December 8 to record their statements.
Ayyan’s lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa maintained that no proof of currency smuggling had been found during interrogation.
He said while carrying the currency the model had yet not obtained the boarding pass and was going to leave after handing the money over to her brother.
The high-profile case has been feverishly followed by the Pakistani media due to Ayyan’s celebrity status and alleged political connections. She was arrested for violation of Section 2(s) of the Customs Act 1969 which is a “predicate offence” under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010. The offence is non-bailable.
Before it, Special Customs Court (SCC), Rawalpindi and Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench had rejected her bail plea, but a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) granted her bail in the money smuggling case and ordered her immediate release from the Adiala Jail.
The supermodel had contacted different known lawyers in four months including Malik Waheed Anjum, Ansar Nawaz Mirza, Sardar Ishaq Khan and Khurram Latif Khosa for bail.
According to them, she was innocent and a false case had been registered against her.
According to them, she committed no offence as she had declared the money. They said the entire proceedings carried out by the Customs authorities were illegal. They said the sections of law leveled in the FIR were not relevant to the case and the case did not fall in the prohibitory clause. The petitioner is a female and entitled to the discretionary relief of bail. On the contrary, Special Public Prosecutor (Customs) Muhammad Amin Feroz opposed the arguments of Ayyan’s lawyers and argued that the petitioner was nominated in the FIR.
An amount of $506,800, concealed in the suitcase for smuggling abroad, was recovered from her and she failed to produce any legal export documents on the occasion, he said. He also said Ayyan was involved in a “white collar” crime which was not only an offence falling within the prohibitory clause, but also commission of the same was an offence against the state. He further submitted that her case was of financial corruption and she was not entitled to grant of discretionary relief of bail at this early stage. On the other hand, another customs lawyer Malik Kamal said Ayyan failed to justify her stance and was caught red-handed on the occasion.