The Supreme Court Friday granted interim-bail to Ali Musa Gilani MNA till the 25th of September, who was earlier arrested in ephedrine case by ANF from outside the SC gate and later on court order presented him within half an hour before the court.
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The court granted bail to MNA Ali Musa Gilani till 25 September and ordered him to submit two personal bonds of Rs 500,000 each. Ali Musa Gilani’s lawyers told the court that a notice was already served to him and his arrest outside the SC gate tantamount to contempt of court.
After a brief hearing, the apex court had ordered to present Ali Musa Gilani MNA within half an hour besides the Anti-Natotics Force officials, who arrested him outside the court gate, were also summoned forthwith.
Earlier, former prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Musa Gilani MNA, who was on way to the Supreme Court for seeking pre-arrest bail in the ephedrine case, was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force officials just outside the SC gate. He was grabbed by the ANF officials, thrown into the vehicle, chained and whisked away.
Following the footsteps of Federal Minister Makhdoom Shahbuddin, Ali Musa Gilani had moved SC on Thursday to seek interim relief against a Lahore High Court (LHC) order in the Ephedrine quota case.
Ali Musa invoked the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court against the LHC verdict which denied him a pre-arrest bail in the Ephedrine case on September 3. He is accused of pressurizing officials of the health ministry in 2010 to allocate a quota of controlled chemical ephedrine to two different pharmaceutical companies.
Recently, the SC has granted pre-arrest bail in the same case to Federal Minister for Textile Industry Makhdoom Shahabuddin till September 25.
Filing for a pre-arrest bail under Article 185(3) of the Constitution, Ali Musa’s counsel Khalid Ranjaha submitted that neither his client was named in the FIR nor in any of the challans submitted by the prosecution before the court.
“It is needless to add that even though there is no evidence of incriminating nature against my client, warrants have been obtained out of sheer malice, ill will and by keeping the court deliberately in the dark,” he argued.
Ranjaha further said that the FIR was being used as a rouse to arrest his client and thereby to defame him in the eyes of his electorate and demolish the family image. He contended that although there was no evidence to connect the petitioner with the impugned FIR, the investigating agency was out to nab the petitioner. Despite there being no evidence, the petitioner’s warrants of arrest were obtained on June 21, 2012, he added.
Requesting the court for interim relief, Ranjaha said that there was no evidence against his client in connection to the ephedrine quota allocation but his arrest has been sought for political reasons. “Under the circumstances, it is prayed that special leave to appeal may very graciously be granted against order of the LHC of September 3”, Ranjaha submitted.
Earlier the ANF officials created an unnecessary mess as they stopped the vehicle just outside the supreme court on the road and forcibly took him out.
Ali Musa Gilani’s lawyer, Dr Khalid Ranjha while talking to media persons outside the Supreme Court, after his clients arrests, and said that Musa Gilani had arrived at the court to appear for the hearing and his arrest at the Supreme Court premises’ gate was tantamount to contempt of court, demanding that the apex court take suo motu notice of his arrest.
Earlier last week, the ANF had declared Musa Gilani as one of the absconders in its fourth challan submitted to the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court in connection with the ephedrine case.
The ANF challan said former director general of health Dr Asad Hafeez misused his authority in allocation and local sale conversion of 2,500 kilograms ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies – Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical.
Musa’s name, along with the names of Makhdoom Shahab and Khushnood Lashari, was included in the challan’s accused column.
Moreover, former director general of health Dr Rasheed Juma, who had been declared an approver in the case, had alleged that Musa Gilani and Khushnood Lashari had pressurised him to allocate 6,000 kilograms of ephedrine to Berlex Lab.
The former prime minister’s son was declared absconder after the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed his pre-arrest bail petitions in the ephedrine scam.
Talking to media after his bail was accepted, a relaxed Musa Gilani said he has complete trust on the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He also thanked the court for approving his bail plea.
He said he had come back from South Africa as his father former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani stated that they have all the faith in the superior judiciary to deliver justice. Gilani said that he has requested the court to change ANF team which is investigating the case. Musa Gilani said he was not tortured by the ANF, no questions were asked but made to sit in a room. He said he was being described as a central character in the ephedrine case and the ANF challen claimed that he used pressure in the allotment of quota. He said he was neither an MNA nor Minister at that time to use pressure. He said he is among several other accused and thus should not be described as central character in the case.
Jamshed Dasti, a very vocal PPP MNA who was standing with Musa Gilani after the bail accused that the ANF wanted to make the system hostage. He said the government has shown most respect to the judiciary than any other individual or party.
