ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday disposed of a pre-arrest bail plea of former federal minister Akram Khan Durrani after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the bench that it had not issued arrest warrants for the accused so far.
IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah remarked, “After the court disposes of a bail plea, the bureau issues arrest warrants and nabs the people,” he remarked.
He further said that prior to arresting the suspects, the NAB should first issue summons to them for investigation, and it could only arrest them if the department had a solid proof against them.
Directing the NAB to strengthen its prosecution system, the chief justice stated that the suspect’s name could be placed on the exit control list (ECL) if there was a fear that he could fly abroad.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, conducted hearing of interim bail petition of Akram Khan Durrani, a stalwart of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F).
During the course of proceedings, the NAB prosecutor informed the bench that despite the fact that three inquiries were underway against Durrani, NAB had not issued his arrest warrants so far.
He stated that the Bureau had so far issued arrest warrants only for the personal assistant to former minister Rehmatullah as he was not cooperating with the investigation team in illegal recruitment case.
The prosecutor said that NAB only arrested the suspects when it had evidence against them.
The chief justice asked the NAB official to apprise the court clearly that whether the NAB was going to arrest the petitioner or not to which the prosecutor replied that no arrest warrants had been issued for Akram Durrani so far.
After this, the bench disposed of the petition.
