LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday sent Jang Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mir Shakilur Rahman to jail on two-week judicial remand in a 34-year-old case pertaining to alleged illegal acquiring of property.
Accountability Judge Syed Jawadul Hassan conducted the case proceedings. At the start of the proceedings, an investigation officer told the court that MSR was sick and he was being given treatment at a private hospital. However, the court ordered the investigation officer to produce him immediately while adjourning hearing for a short period of time.
Later, the investigation officer produced MSR before the court.
A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor informed the court that investigation from MSR had been completed and his custody was no longer required. Subsequently, the court sent him to jail on judicial remand till May 12 and ordered for producing him on expiry of his remand.
The NAB prosecutor requested the court to send MSR to the hospital again, however, the court held that it was a responsibility of NAB director general and a permission should be sought from the court for the purpose.
In the last hearing on April 18, the court had extended Mir’s physical remand by 10 days, directing the agency to present him again on April 28.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London for treatment after having been granted bail on medical grounds in October last year, is also nominated in the said case. NAB had announced last week that it would approach the accountability court to declare Sharif a proclaimed offender after he had failed to appear despite being issued summons twice.
The anti-graft agency had arrested MSR on March 12 in a case which dates back to 1986 and involves the transfer of 54-canal land which, according to the anti-graft body, was illegally leased to him by then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif “in violation of the relevant laws and rules”.
However, he has maintained that the property in question was bought from a private party “34 years ago and all evidence of this was given to NAB”. Subsequently, on March 13, an accountability court had remanded him into the bureau’s custody for 12 days. The remand duration has been extended multiple times since.
‘HARASSMENT CAMPAIGN’:
Following Mir’s arrest, Jang Group, the parent company for Geo television, had alleged that the Bureau is running a targeted harassment campaign against its business interests. It had termed Mir’s arrest as an “attack on press freedom”.
The day he was arrested, the Jang Group had issued a statement, which claimed: “In the past 18 months, NAB has sent our reporters, producers, and editors — directly and indirectly — over a dozen notices, threatening a shutdown of our channels (via PEMRA) due to our reporting and our programmes on NAB.”
“NAB has also, through several means, tried to persuade us to go slow, to stop stories, and to do others in its favor at the expense of the full truth,” the statement added.
However, the bureau rejected all the statement terming it as “baseless”.
