ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) appeal against acquittal of Former DirectorGeneral (DG) Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz in assetsbeyond income case.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Asif SaeedKhan Khosa and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice YahyaAfridi, heard the NAB petition against the acquittal of brig (retd) Imtiaz.
During the course of proceedings, the chief justice remarked thatdetermining the assets beyond the limits was the duty of theanti-corruption body but it did not determine the total value of assets inthe case.
The NAB prosecutor argued that it was duty of the accused to clarify theirassets, on which, the Chief Justice remarked that the same issue waslingering in the courts until 2011, in all the cases presented by the NABwhile the SC in its verdict had clarified that it was duty of theanti-graft body to prove the assets beyond the limits.
The anti-graft body’s lawyer contended that the accused wife, NasreenImtiaz was a benamidar, on which the Chief Justice remarked that provingthe assets beyond limits was the first and base of the case before provingthe benamidar and if the first base was missing, then being the benamidarwas not a crime.
He asked that who Adnan Khawaja was and what he did?
The counsel of Adnan Khawaja while responding to the CJ query told that hisclient was a businessman who also owned a factory.
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The NAB prosecutor said that Adnan Khawaja was a benamidar of Brigadier(retd) Imtiaz and he (Adnan Khawaja) brought a shop from an amountprovided by the former DG IB.
Brigadier Imtiaz’s counsel said that the case was based on a mala fideintention.
The Chief Justice remarked that if the properties were made on an illegalsource of income, then the prosecution must prove it.
The SC retained the High Court verdict regarding the acquittal of Brigadier(retd) Imtiaz, his wife, Nasreen Imtiaz, and Adnan K Khawaja.
